The New Movie of the Week: Trap

In Philadelphia, a firefighter named Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett) is taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) concert, her favorite singer whom she is obsessed with along with about 20,000 other young girls. Cooper notices what looks like a much larger police presence than is normally needed for a concert of this size.  It is revealed that the concert is being used as a Trap to capture “The Butcher”, a serial killer who has slaughtered twelve different victims.  The Trap is being organized by Dr. Josephine Grant, but the problem is, Cooper is the Butcher, and after learning about the Trap he uses all his resources to somehow escape, including the involvement of Lady Raven.  As the movie progresses it moves locales and becomes a cat and mouse game between several of the characters with a few twists and turns to keep it interesting.

Trap is a 2024 American psychological thriller written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan and like in his other movies and in true Hitchcockian fashion, has a cameo appearance as Lady Raven’s Uncle.  The premise was inspired by a real-life event, the 1985 sting operation known as “Operation Flagship”, where over one hundred fugitives were arrested at a convention center where they were invited to get free NFL tickets and an opportunity to win a trip to Super Bowl XX.  Shyamalan pitched the film’s setting as The Silence of the Lambs taking place at a Taylor Swift concert and in specific reference to her Eras Tour.  The music of Lady Raven is central to the story and while writing the script, M. Night’s daughter, Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, wrote sixteen songs that were specifically geared toward the action and what would be happening on screen.  The film was released on August 2, 2024, and is getting moderately good reviews with most critics praising the tense atmosphere and strong leading performances, specifically Josh Hartnett’s.

I enjoy most of M. Night Shyamalan’s films and love how he often integrates his twists and turns into his story telling, hinting at the answer to questions and not really answering them until the final “Aha!” moment when the big secret is revealed.  This film is a bit different with no big surprise twist but instead a few little, small ones.  The film doesn’t really lose anything from that being missing and remains one of his more enjoyable films.  There is no gore or blood to speak of, and I don’t feel this is really a horror film, but a true thriller.  The movie starts with a laid-back good feeling and slowly builds up the tension gradually.  I do agree with most of the critics that Josh Harnett is very good in the charismatic role of Cooper who is able to charm just about anyone into doing almost anything and has always kept his serial killer world separate from his family life. There is something relatable and likeable about Cooper, but he never becomes a hero.  You want him to get caught, which is what makes his performance so good.  It never crosses the line and makes him a sympathetic character, he remains a monster, but a monster that is complex and interesting to watch. Fourteen-year-old Australian born Ariel Donoghue does a great job as Cooper’s twelve-year-old daughter who is overly enthusiastic about seeing Lady Raven.  There is something very believable and natural about her performance.  I am not a big pop music fan (more of a metal guy), but I actually enjoyed Seleka’s songs, and her acting performance was good as well. It was also fantastic seeing Haley Mills come out of retirement to play Dr. Grant. The scripted dialogue was well written, and the cinematography was quite good. I enjoyed this film, but it wasn’t perfect, it suffered from not knowing when to end and felt like it dragged on a bit before finally finishing.