Studios: Warner Brothers/Blinding Edge Pictures
Tagline: A new M. Night Shyamalan experience
30,000 fans. 300 cops. 1 serial killer. No escape.
Plot: Cooper, a serial killer dubbed "The Butcher," joins his daughter at a concert for pop star Lady Raven, an event he realizes is a trap set by police to catch him.
Cast
Josh Hartnett - Cooper
Ariel Donoghue - Riley
Saleka Shyamalan - Lady Raven
Hayley Mills - Dr. Josephine Grant
Alison Pill - Rachel
Vanessa Smythe - Tour Manager for Lady Raven
Kid Cudi - The Thinker
Writer/director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rated PG-13 for some violent content and brief strong language (105 minutes)
When I first saw the trailers for the latest M. Night Shyamalan thriller Trap, I really thought it looked like a really clever, intriguing thriller. And, honestly, for a good part of this thriller, it was ... until it wasn't.
I thoroughly enjoyed the main premise of the film, which reveals that Josh Hartnett's character is revealed to be a serial killer (also revealed in the trailers) and we see that the police and other law enforcement have put together a concert as a trap since they had a tip that the "Butcher" will be there (which is explained more in the movie).
This concept is rather interesting and once we see that The Butcher (aka Cooper) is not having the best of luck trying to escape and we see him slowly becoming unhinged, things start becoming a little tense. There are some moments where we see Cooper trying to sneak his way around the concert, trying to find out what the police know, that are actually kinda cunning. And, for the most part, Harnett gave a decent performance and it's good to see him in a lead role again.
Trap does seem to slowly fall apart slightly during the latter half of the movie and some parts of the story does have holes in it. There are a few moments that seem like a few random things do occur to help Cooper escape and lead to the ending. There are definitely a few flaws in the story but I won't really get into them that much due to potentially spoiling any story points. Might give this another look and give a more thorough review once it's streaming on Max.
Here are some interesting tidbits for TRAP!
While being distributed by a major studio (Warner Bros), Trap was allowed to resume filming under an interim agreement during the SAG-AFTRA strike as M. Night Shyamalan independently finances his own films.
About ten minutes into the movie, as the SWAT cars are approaching on the road, a billboard is visible in the background advertising the movie The Watchers (2024), which was produced by M. Night Shyamalan and directed by his daughter Ishana Shyamalan.
Saleka Shyamalan (Lady Raven)'s feature film debut. She is M. Night Shyamalan's daughter and is also a singer in real life.
This film is one of two films released in 2024 that M. Night Shyamalan produced involving his children. His other daughter, Ishana Shyamalan, directed the film The Watchers (2024).
According to M. Night Shyamalan, the pitch and concept of the movie revolved around the question "What if The Silence of the Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?".
M. Night Shyamalan declared in an interview that the plot was inspired by a memory that he had from a sting operation surrounding a fake football game that was staged to catch criminals in the 1980s.
He's referring to the Operation Flagship that happened on December 15, 1985 and was organized by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Metropolitan Police that arrested 101 wanted fugitives at the Washington Convention Center. The criminals were attracted by a tickets free offer made by a fictitious television company.
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