You won’t want to escape
There’s nothing quite like an M. Night Shyamalan film, because you never know what you’re going to get. I’m talking content, not quality. He never does the same thing twice. It’s that element of the unexpected—a macrocosm of the plot twists he’s inevitably associated with—that make him a continually interesting filmmaker.
He has his detractors, naturally. Some still view him as hobbled by some of his career missteps from fifteen years ago, labelling even his recent work as schlocky or illogical. I can’t imagine what it is to live through a lens of such cynicism. Even when he's working in the realm of the outlandish, all he’s ever doing is inviting you to have fun with him.
As usual, I distanced from myself from Trap’s marketing. I don’t need a trailer to tell me to see an M. Night film. I don’t even need a logline. I’ll say it here: if you don’t even know the premise of Trap, but you know you want to see it, you should stop reading. I had such a good time with Trap, especially during the first act where I got to piece together what was happening without any prior context.
That’s just how I get the most out of movies, though. This is still a spoiler-free review, so if you, like most, are okay with knowing what Trap’s all about, read on.
Warm-Up Act
When Cooper (Josh Hartnett) and his twelve-year-old daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) attend a Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) concert, Cooper realises that he’s the target of a police sting operation. Trapped with his unknowing daughter, Cooper must figure out a way to escape the concert without revealing his true nature to Riley.
Trap’s first act is immaculate. The slow build to Cooper’s realisation that he’s trapped is as gripping as the best thrillers. This is done in two ways. First is the information game that Shyamalan plays with the audience. It’s not just Cooper figuring out what’s up—it’s the audience finding out bit by bit who this charming, handsome man that clearly loves his daughter might really be under the surface.
This neat layering of exposition is underscored by the most important element of the movie: Cooper’s character. Clever, competent characters are interesting. We like how they think outside the box. We like their ability to think on their feet. We like how they don’t buckle under pressure. We wish we more like that. Cooper is all of these things. Whatever crimes he may have committed, we’re rooting for him to succeed. It’s that moral grey area where Breaking Bad thrived, and it’s the reason I found myself grinning ear-to-ear for most of Trap.
Intermission
Watching Cooper toe the line between getting found out and pushing the limits of acceptable behaviour at a concert is engrossing, but it’s Josh Hartnett’s performance that really sells the character. He’s a man with many faces, and if there’s one thing that always has me leaning forward in my seat, it’s when an actor is playing a character who is forced to ‘act’. Those layers are just delicious.
Hartnett acts with impressive range, but Ariel Donoghue as his daughter, Riley, is also great. Competent, not-annoying child actors capable of reacting emotionally to what’s happening is always a good thing. As I slowly realised what was happening, Riley became the character I began to empathise with the most as it became hard to imagine a world where she came out of the film’s events with her childhood innocence intact.
This becomes even more heart-breaking as the narrative begins to weave in the pop star, Lady Raven, played by M. Night’s daughter, Saleka. Ostensibly a singer-songwriter in real life, Saleka composed fourteen songs for Trap, which she’s seen performing in the background for a lot of the movie. I can’t say any of the songs truly grabbed me, but I like the dedication and originality, and her character is given a few successful flourishes.
Encore
Trap sets an extremely high standard with its excellent premise and entire first half. Things fall short in the second half, but I wouldn’t say it gets unwatchable or predictable. There’s just a notable drop in the tension that had permeated the movie up until the midpoint, and the introduction of a new, rotating supporting cast that never quite reaches the emotional heights of Cooper and Riley’s relationship.
The movie jumping to new perspectives keeps things feeling fresh, but it does sacrifice that interesting space where the audience is rooting for a Bad Guy; at a certain point Trap wants you to ‘switch sides’ so to speak, but the change isn’t earned. What was once gripping becomes the played-out thriller tropes we’ve seen before. Nevertheless, events are structured, paced, and performed in a way that avoids boredom.
Trap isn’t perfect, but it’s a definitely a ride worth taking. I hope this is the beginning of Josh Hartnett taking more leading roles, because he’s terrific in this. As for M. Night, this is another success in his long career that doesn’t rely on unpredictable twists to get talked about, proving once again that his detractors are missing out.
***
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