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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
The horror mystery filmmaker known for plot twists is on a roll, now collaborating with actor Josh Hartnett. M. Night Shyamalan’s new project, titled Trap, is advertised as a psychological crime thriller, yet its unique location setting serves as a treat for genre fans. Although the movie may not be regarded as being anywhere at the top of his filmography, the presence of its lead along with the surprise performances of secondary roles are the driving forces of the narrative.
Shyamalan serves as the producer, screenwriter, and director for Trap, while also making his traditional cameo.
In this review, I will discuss M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap. As the article’s title suggests, no spoilers will be present.
Discussion
It must be hard seeing what everyone’s doing all the time.
Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’
When I first heard of the initial premise for Trap, it sounded a little too good to be true. As the months passed since the first trailer was released in April, it sounded less and less like a frightening predicament. Of course, that can be a relieving thing to hear in light of certain concert incidents, e.g. what has happened to pop singers Christina Grimmie and Ariana Grande. In fact, this is far from what Parker Finn is selling movie-goers with Naomi Scott in Smile 2 later this October. Moreover, not every film that partially or wholly takes place inside a concert venue will tell the same tale. (I mean, K-pop group Blackpink has their Born Pink tour movie in theaters at the time of this review. That doesn’t fit in the pattern of what we are seeing here.)
Rather, M. Night Shyamalan has another movie up his sleeves, one that follows a bad person up to no good. This comes after having had to explore the boundaries of mental illness for a little while with The Visit, Split, and its Unbreakable tie-in crossover/sequel, Glass. To a degree, the new movie deals with trauma. Pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) is a widely famous personality whose connection with her father has been strained in some manner. The focal character, Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), makes for a nice parallel. It is uncovered that he has not had the strongest relationship with his mother (Marcia Bennett).
Because of this, comparing Trap to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Wes Craven’s Red Eye only makes all the more sense. Shyamalan demonstrates his admiration for those filmmakers who preceded him, albeit with his typical “love it or hate it” signature flair.
All Eyes on Me
Following the villain is gradually becoming a neat trend in horror media lately. Trap, then, finds itself treading those vast waters of possibility interestingly. The movie continues to deliver on the psychological thriller aspect of Shyamalan’s storytelling. However, it does often run into narrative obstacles, such as limited work with the theme of surveillance. The opening of the film shows security cameras being positioned in different areas. Yet, viewers are not invited to observe from those points of view.
In juxtaposition, Glass has an enticing lens when it comes to surveillance. Three main characters are held in confinement for close examination inside of a mental institution. Security cameras are set up so that they cannot sneak out and escape undetected. Trap has a similar circumstance insofar that it puts some kind of effort into reminding the viewers how advanced our era of digital technology has progressed. The film has much to do with perspectives, including video-recording Lady Raven as she performs on-stage.
Consequently, we can only assume that Adams is evading the eyes of his pursuers, sneaking into this place and that. This can be hard to believe, considering there are so many people around him. No one even bothers to make active note of what is transpiring. Social media plays a decent role in human contact from person to person—or even between an individual and a collective—, exchanging information not just through text but also by imageries.
Possible Ties to Prior Films
A part of me wants Trap to be the start of a new Eastrail 177 trilogy—a trilogy that started with Unbreakable in 2000, made its revival with Split in 2016-17, and ended with Glass over five years ago. The final film led characters to think the final act would occur in a fictional skyscraper, Osaka Tower. Likewise, Trap takes place in a fictional concert venue, Tanaka Arena. Glass primarily takes place at the Raven Hill Memorial, where its focal characters are held; and in Trap, Shyamalan names his daughter’s character, Lady Raven.
It isn’t far-fetched given the unveiling of a secret society overlooking and suppressing superhuman existence. This is presented with the tattoo of the three-leafed clover that members of this organization have on their wrists. Trap‘s Adams has his own tattoo, which ties to some sort of surveillance mobile phone application. It isn’t clear what it explicitly represents or who runs that surveillance. However, as a criminal mastermind—if he can be called such—, he does have what it takes to be the next Elijah “Mr. Glass” Price.
On a related note, Cooper makes his observations of the crowd at the concert. The fans are akin to what many would associate with familiar fanbases, e.g. the Bey Hive, the Swifties, the Barbz, etc. To an extent, he almost sees Lady Raven’s fans as a cult, but that is just his opinion on the matter.
The Set-Up
Production designer Debbie DeVilla’s set pieces for the concert venue are a great means of illustrating how strenuous it must be to track down the serial killer known as The Butcher. The event has escalators, stairways, hallways, meeting rooms, storage rooms, doorways to rooftops. The premises of the venue aren’t quite an extreme labyrinth, but it is intriguing to witness the difficulties of evasion. At one moment during the movie, the audience is shown a layout of the area. Although, other than that, they have to figure it out as they go along with the ride.
The cinematography is also neat in terms of surveillance. Cooper is seen a couple of times trying to spy on the FBI profiler, Dr. Josephine Grant (Hayley Mills). Split diopter shots are used here, showcasing how focus and attention could be divided, which is seldom throughout the movie. I love one scene where Lady Raven essentially reads the room around her, assessing circumstances as laid out before her.
The Crew Behind Trap
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom serves as the director of photography for the film. Douglas Koch (David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, Caitlin Cronenberg’s Humane) is the director of photography for post-production.
Noemi Katharina Preiswerk serves as the editor for the film.
Herdís Stefánsdóttir scores the music for the soundtrack. Susan Jacobs (Unbreakable, The Village, Little Miss Sunshine, The Final Girls, The Visit, Split, Glass, Promising Young Woman, Old, Servant, Knock at the Cabin, The Watchers) is the music supervisor.
Lesley Langs is the supervising music editor. Dylan Neely is the music editor.
Dashen Naidoo and Jill Purdy (Land of the Dead, FX’s The Strain, Mother!, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Nightmare Alley, Infinity Pool, Knock at the Cabin, The Watchers) serve as the supervising sound editors. Naidoo also serves as the sound designer. Jack Madigan serves as the sound effects editor.
Ben Meechan, Luke Gentry, and Jeremy Price are the additional sound designers.
Douglas Aibel (Unbreakable, The Village, Split, Isle of Dogs, Glass, Servant, Old, HBO’s Scenes from a Marriage and Reality) serves as the casting director.
Brick Mason serves as the storyboard artist.
Jamie Jones serves as the stunt coordinator of the film.
Debbie DeVilla serves as the production designer. Stephen Depko and Aleks Cameron serve as the art directors.
Jo-Ann MacNeil serves as the makeup department head. Iantha Goldberg is the key makeup artist.
Sandy Sokolowski serves as the hair department head. Josie Stewart is the key hairstylist.
The Cast of Trap
Josh Hartnett (The Virgin Suicides, Black Hawk Down, Sin City, Penny Dreadful, Black Mirror Series 6, Oppenheimer, FX on Hulu’s The Bear) portrays the protagonist, Cooper Adams. Ariel Donoghue plays Riley, Cooper’s daughter.
Saleka Shyamalan (Servant) plays Lady Raven, the pop star whose concert Cooper and Riley attend.
Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer, Cooties, Alex Garland’s Devs, Star Trek: Picard) portrays Rachel, Cooper’s wife and Riley’s mother.
Hayley Mills plays Dr. Josephine Grant, a profiler for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Jonathan Langdon plays Jamie, a vendor at the concert venue and a fan of The Butcher. Mark Bacolcol plays Spencer, the latest kidnapped victim of The Butcher.
Marnie McPhail plays Jody’s mom, who argues with Cooper on two or three occasions in the concert venue halls.
Marcia Bennett (Don Mancini’s Chucky Season 2, HBO’s The Last of Us series pilot) plays Cooper’s late mother.
Vanessa Smythe plays Lady Raven’s tour manager.
M. Night Shyamalan cameos as a spotter at the concert.
Smaller Roles
Kid Cudi (HBO’s Westworld Season 3 and We Are Who We Are, Ti West’s X, Entergalactic) and Russ appear as The Thinker and Parker Wayne, featured performances on the stage of the concert, respectively.
Olivia Barrett plays a nurse. Allison Ference plays a burn victim at a concessions stand.
Joseph Daly (Don Mancini’s Chucky Season 1) plays Lady Raven’s limousine driver, Jeremiah.
Lochlan Miller appears as Logan, Cooper and Rachel’s son and Riley’s younger brother.
Performances and Character Developments
Josh Hartnett has almost made a career out of playing good-guy roles. This includes John Tate in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Zeke Tyler in The Faculty, and Eben Oleson in 30 Days of Night. At his age, it is only fitting that the role of Cooper Adams offers a change of scenery to what the actor can achieve. Sure enough, he achieves it well, despite any on-screen body count to show for it. Adams has a certain charm to himself that, again, may be hard to believe. He’s got this ability to impress, influence, and persuade others through rhetoric, and it’s amusing that he is oftentimes the primary source of black comedy. Watching Hartnett as this character felt like he was switching back and forth between Bruce Wayne and the Joker; I was at the edge of my seat!
Saleka Shyamalan’s role, both as a singer-songwriter and a lead actor, is fine work. I deeply appreciate how her father writes her into the narrative as someone who sends out various messages to her fans, as opposed to Adams, who prefers to remain private and reserved about his movements. In this manner, Lady Raven makes for a remarkable foil. Her voice speaks volumes to those she is able to reach. It’s almost as if the screenwriter is revisiting the character traits of Casey Cooke from Split and Glass or the teenage siblings from The Visit, finding innovative ways to save others from imminent doom. The character’s power comes from popularity, which could prove beneficial in her favor.
More so, Alison Pill delivers an unexpected performance as Adams’s wife, Rachel, in the final act. In spite of her minimal screen time, Rachel is the icing on the cake for the conflict at hand. Not much is said without giving anything away, but she is integral to the story nonetheless.
Final Thoughts on M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap
Although his new movie struggles with ethos and logos, Shyamalan’s Trap is a further fascinating study of psychology and surveillance. The screenplay is a real challenge, especially with exposition, telling the audience more than it should be exhibiting. Regardless, there is no denying the entertainment value that it holds. The wordplay is loveable, and the filmmaker channels his father figure-ness into Cooper Adams, finding himself trying to connect with the younger people. If anything, this is not the end of the antagonist, and I do hope Hartnett can reprise his role in the future somehow.
3.5/5 stars
M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap is now playing in theaters!
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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
