Thriller about the serial killer Max is one of the best movies of the year
Pa Jonathan Klotz
| Published
M. Night Shyamalan has been the butt of jokes ever since “I see dead people” became the hottest movie quote of 1999, but with his latest films, it’s clear that the director is starting to laugh along with the audience. Old man made it a bit unclear if the humor was intentional or if it was just his overblown sense of style over substance, but this year Shyamalan made it clear he was in on the joke. Trap is, on the face of it, a psychological thriller, but it also has a tongue-in-cheek style and a sense that everyone involved knows how stupid this movie is, and as a result, it’s one of Shyamalan’s best films.
Dad’s series
Just got my well received turn OppenheimerJosh Hartnett plays Cooper, a Philly firefighter who takes his daughter (Ariel Donoghue) to a Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Knight) concert, which turns out to be a trap to capture Butcher, a notorious serial killer known for that left piles of body parts all over the city. It’s not a spoiler that Cooper is the Butcher, but a revelation that in any other movie would have been the thirdthe act is a turning point, but art Trapit’s a revelation in the first act, and the film is all the better for it.
Once Cooper realizes he’s trapped inside the arena, Trap starts playing as a black comedy version a The Flintstones episode where Fred has to be in two places at once, lying to Wilma (or for other ’90s kids, Boy meets world episode where Corey and Shawn watch Vader wrestle during Topanga’s party). Cooper, a dutiful father, tries to keep his daughter happy while trying to break free in increasingly absurd ways, from sneaking onto the roof to pushing a woman down the stairs. A starburst is the very moment when it becomes clear that finally M. Night Shyamalan winks at the camera.
Hayley Mills, star of the 1961 film A trap for parents (Get it? Cooper is a father…trapped…), plays an FBI profiler who helps create the most absurd moment of the already absurd film when Cooper gets his hands on a police radio. As he reaches for the fire alarm to distract himself, Mills explains how the Butcher can distract himself by setting off the fire alarm. Thanks Trap already making it clear that this isn’t a movie to be taken seriously, it’s a silly moment that works.
Nothing in this movie should work
I wish there was an actual trap sequence Trap it was actually a bit longer only because Hartnett does an amazing job of slowly falling apart at the seams trying to hold it together for the sake of her daughter. That, and as it ends, the film switches focus to Lady Raven and Cooper’s home life, which still has some weirdly silly but wonderful moments, with the limo ride being a highlight for me because Looney Tunes logic, but it lacks the wildly absurd stakes of the concert. Just as the reveal of the killer would be the highlight of another film, the escape from the titular trap is just another moment in this film, not the true ending.
The weakest part Trap Saleka Night Shyamalan as Lady Raven, a combination of Taylor Swift and Lady Gagabut that’s because she’s a musician first and this is her first acting role. With that in mind, she does a great job, and the fact that she seems a bit out of place throughout the film helps the character work, but in any other film, her line would immediately take you out of the story. Under her father’s guidance, the clumsiness, like Cooper’s absurdist humor, somehow works.
A one-of-a-kind experience
Trap it’s a film that divided audiences and critics alike, garnering a rotten 57 percent rating Rotten tomatoes; this is a movie you will either love or hate. I really enjoyed it, mainly thanks to Josh Hartnett, who somehow enhances the script by chewing over every bit of scenery, something he couldn’t even do in a gothic horror film Penny Dreadful. No film in recent memory can match its manic energy, odd plot choices, and clumsy tone trap, making it a one-of-a-kind viewing experience.
You can stream Trap today on Max.
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