Trap (105 minutes)

"I think you're looking for me."

Welcome back to The 90-Minute Movie - where short runtimes rule and lack of editing drools (or something like that, I’m still workshopping that one). All I can say today is - wow! So many new people have found me and I am really excited (and terrified) to be writing for you. I started this newsletter a little over two years ago in an effort to commit to something specific. I tend to try to do too much and stretch the scope of my work until it’s barely recognizable. So far I’ve stayed true to the original vision -- and I’m finding my people. Hello to you! And thank you for being here. 

I can’t believe I’m covering another new release this week AND I really can’t believe I am covering another M. Night Shyamalan movie after the fight I fought with Old two years ago. I’m serious when I say watching that movie changed something in me genetically. I thought I was over it when I tried again with The Happening, but that movie’s only redeeming quality is that I got to see Mark Wahlberg talk to a plant. 

BUT 

I will quite literally do anything for Josh Hartnett. So here we are.

Trap follows serial killer Cooper “The Butcher” Abbott (Josh Hartnett) as he navigates the tenuous line between being a great dad at a pop concert and a serial killer barricaded into an arena by the FBI. As the night wears on, it becomes harder and harder for Cooper to keep his lives separate. His daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) becomes suspicious and his patience wears thin. But through an intricate plan, Cooper manages to enlist Riley’s pop idol Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) to help him and give his daughter a memorable night.

I am so happy I gave this movie a chance. And yes, a lot of that is because Hartnett is just such an incredible actor, and I was absolutely fangirling all over myself watching him play a serial killer trying to maintain control. I enjoyed him more in this than I did that Guy Ritchie film (and I really liked him in that!) But to give credit where it is due, Hartnett’s performance is aided by Shyamalan’s tight framing and long holds that linger over his face. Cooper is trying to keep it together, his smiles are tight and unnatural, eyes watery with concern, but only we in the audience seem to notice that. The people around him are unaware, pushing his buttons, helping him out, treating him like a “regular” guy. In these moments we watch Cooper silently grapple with his reality (he’s a serial killer) and who he wants to be (a family man). 

As the film progresses, Cooper’s two lives circle closer and closer to one another revealing just how precarious the line is between loving his children and hacking people apart. At first, it’s hard for us as an audience to even see it. How does he do both? How could he do both? And then slowly we see the separation, the justifications, the cold interior to his warm exterior. Most compelling for me is how toward the end of the film we start to see how much he truly enjoys killing. There are moments when I wanted to root for him (he’s our protagonist after all) but over time it’s hard to feel sorry for him. Cooper isn’t the Wolfman, wanting to fight his affliction but ultimately failing every full moon. He is Dracula. Enjoying every minute of it. 

On that note, the actors in this film totally “get” the humor Shyamalan is going for, it’s a little much, a little over the top at times, but it works here. I imagine Hartnett has to have a super dry sense of humor to be able to pull these moments off. This is the humor that The Happening was missing and that Zoey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg couldn’t quite grasp. Yes, the movie’s content is pretty serious but it’s also very situational in its humor. “Serial killer gets trapped at a pop concert with his daughter” is unexpected, it’s funny, and we want to laugh. I found myself laughing with the movie, whereas with The Happening and Old, I was lost and laughing at them. (A lot.)

Trap is not without its cringey moments. It’s hard to overlook the nepotism of Shyamalan hiring his daughter to play a central character, Lady Raven, and even have her develop an entire pop album to be the backdrop for the first half of the film. I admit that I was uncomfortable at first. Worried. It’s an odd experience to watch so much of a concert along with our main characters. Cooper and Riley are at a Lady Raven concert, but then, so are we. In some cases, whole numbers play out with choreographed dances and lights. Strangely though, I got used to it. The songs were OK, and Saleka’s voice is beautiful. And then later as Lady Raven becomes enmeshed in Cooper’s plot, her acting holds up. While it’s still a healthy dose of nepotism, it works out in the end. We’re not dealing with North West in The Lion King here. 

I feel this movie is too new for me to reveal the “twist” that I know you’re all expecting from a Shyamalan movie. (And if you really want to know without seeing it just DM me and we can have a chat about it.) But what I will say on this front is that it’s subtle in a way I enjoyed. It works with the story, rather than against it. This is one of the more logical reveals in an M. Night movie that I can remember. It’s not earth-shattering or life-changing. This isn’t The Sixth Sense, after all. But it works! And really in the end that’s all I am asking of this movie to deliver on. 

Low bar? Sure. But we’re not gunning for awards here at The 90-Minute Movie. We’re here to have a good time. And so I’m recommending this one to all my friends. Despite some of its shortcomings, Trap is an original story. Something we are lacking lately. I get so tired of reboots, sequels, universes, etc. It is nice to have something self-contained that we can all enjoy in under two hours. There’s pleasure there.