Trap

No other Hollywood director has ever made me tolerate a plethora of films that openly mock audiences by assuming he knows better than them, and with Trap, M. Night Shyamalan has proved himself to be the most inadequate filmmaker to date and ensnares himself with a disappointing dud.

As a treat for Riley’s excellent grades, her average father Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett, Pearl Harbour, Oppenheimer) takes her to a performance by Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan, M. Night’s daughter), a pop sensation. Riley is worried that Cooper would make her look foolish, but his dad jokes and lack of charm are some of his best qualities. This is not a surprise, but he is a renowned serial murderer called “The Butcher.” He approaches Jamie, a nice T-shirt vendor, and asks her what’s going on when he detects an excessive police presence at the performance. As the concert devolves into a perilous game of cat and mouse, Cooper finds himself attempting to outmanoeuvre the cops while simultaneously satisfying his desire to play dad of the year by, ensuring Riley enjoys the performance.

From the very knowledgeable vendor onwards, the plot holes and implausible logic become more laborious and ridiculous, reaching a peak when Cooper manages to talk his way backstage with Riley by locating Lady Raven’s uncle (M. Night, making another cameo appearance! No surprise here) in the audience. It then becomes apparent the whole first half of the movie, is really a long-winded advertising ploy to get Saleka her own concert film, and Cooper isn’t the only dutiful parent attempting to spoil his kid while doing atrocious things. 

Hartnett is experiencing a mini resurgence in his flayed career and squanders a golden opportunity with his hammy and insipid performance. Hartnett does better than Saleka Shyamalan, who mildly succeeds as a musician but is abysmal as a actress. As Cooper’s wife Rachel, Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Star Trek: Picard) makes a valiant effort, but the number of awkward moments she gets is enough to make her look even worse than President Joe Biden during a news conference. 

No matter how hard you try, you cannot escape Shyamalan’s Trap, it’s too ludicrous to take seriously.  Even though the film only lasts 105 minutes, it feels like eternity, and you pray just to make it end. The fact that it offers more unintended but hilarious side-splitting humour than any ten comedies produced in the last seven months is the only thing that saves it from becoming the worst movie of 2024. Nothing good comes out of it, and the insipid narrative twists are reserved to trap fans of M. Night Shyamalan’s work… save this one.

Now showing in a cinema near you.

-Dirk Lombard Fourie