‘Trap’ movie review: Josh Hartnett is earnest in M. Night Shyamalan’s insipid thriller

Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue in a still from ‘Trap’ | Photo Credit: YouTube/ Warner Bros. Pictures

M. Night Shyamalan recently took to Instagram to share an amusing encounter with a fan that left him in stitches. The fan brandished a placard featuring one of the most unsettling moments in sci-fi cinema: the iconic blurry still of the infamous birthday party alien footage from Shyamalan’s 2002 cult classic Signs, complete with a cheeky caption, “Thank you for the childhood trauma.” Fast forward to his latest venture, Trap, and it’s a real shame that Shyamalan’s biggest twist these days appears to be his inability to harness the very tools that once crowned him as one of the most promising voices in Hollywood. The tragedy of Trap — as with many of Shyamalan’s recent outings — is that the once-visionary filmmaker is experiencing a drought of creative inspiration, a motive force that previously fueled so much of the bespoke childhood trauma that fans have long yearned for from his work.

The film opens with Cooper (Josh Hartnett) who wins Father of the Year by taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see her idol, teen pop sensation Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) in concert. It’s supposed to be a special night, but if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the twist: surprise, surprise — Cooper is the very serial killer the FBI is hunting for, and the entire concert is an elaborate sting operation to trap and arrest him.

The premise, on paper, was tantalisingly billed by Shyamalan as The Silence of the Lambs meets a Taylor Swift concert. The film’s primary failure, however, is in revealing its hand far too early. The premature revelation robs the movie of suspense, almost like hearing the punchline before the joke has even started.

Hartnett’s character navigates the chaos of the pop spectacle that boasts all the fanfare of (a bootleg) The Eras Tour. The arena is filled with screeching teens waving glow sticks, and features a kaleidoscope of neon lights to choreographed dance numbers. At this point, it’s a toss-up whether to suspend disbelief at Lady Raven’s lifeless stage presence or the FBI’s harebrained scheme of staking out a concert packed with twenty thousand civilians based on a single ticket stub, which stretches credulity to its breaking point.

Saleka Shyamalan’s turn as Lady Raven is, to put it charitably, a work in progress. While her self-penned SZA-esque R&B vibe might occasionally find its groove, her lacklustre acting chops leave much to be desired. Though a singer-songwriter by profession, her casting feels less thematically motivated and more a high-profile case of “take your daughter to work” day. Nepotism surely explains it, but it nowhere near justifies the screen time devoted to her stilted performance. It’s an awkward fit wrapped in glitter and sequins, but few can hope to emulate the infallible charisma of Miss Americana’s breathtaking concert experiences, even as loose inspirations.

Shyamalan’s hallmark direction feels scattershot here. The potential for a tightly wound thriller is lost amid a sea of contrivances and improbabilities. The concert setting slowly turns into a frustrating backdrop for a series of conveniences and lazy exposition that only compounds the sense of squandered opportunity.

Even fleeting moments of levity miss the mark. Shyamalan populates the narrative with a host of quirky characters, none more so than a loquacious merch salesman who spills crucial information to Cooper with butter-fingered ease, as well as a joke for keen-eyed cinephiles who would’ve noticed the original The Parent Trap star, Hayley Mills, as the head of operations of the sting. Cameos by popstars Kid Cudi and Russ as fellow performers are mildly amusing but ultimately distracting, adding little to the story beyond momentary diversions.

Despite the shortcomings, Hartnett’s performance remains a beacon of what might have been. He skillfully balances the character’s duality — loving father and cold-blooded killer — with a cleverly composed persona that deserved a better vehicle. His unscrupulous smile juxtaposed against those darting predator eyes accentuated the film’s compelling early tension and felt unfortunately emaciated by its obnoxious closing segments.

Shyamalan appears to have lost the touch that once defined his most celebrated works. Though the film treads familiar ground with the psychological trappings of Unbreakable or Split, it lacks the ingenuity and precision that made these earlier films resonate. He’s clearly in a creative fatigue, attempting to recapture past glories, only to be ensnared by the very formulas that he once set himself apart from.

Trap is currently running in theatres