Certification. 15
Running Time. 1 hour 45 mins
Director. M. Night Shyamalan
Cast. Ariel Donoghue, Josh Hartnett, Jonathan Langdon, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill, Saleka Shyamalan.
Rating. 61%
Review.
The writer, producer and director M. Night Shyamalan first came to prominence with The Sixth Sense in 1999. In The Sixth Sense and subsequent films - Unbreakable, Signs and The Village - the director displayed a penchant for seismic plot twists at the climax of the film that would invariably make or break the film. In many ways, this expectation became an albatross around Shyamalan's neck and as rewards diminished the director has moved away from these obligatory jaw-drop moments. In his most recent films, Knock At The Cabin and Trap, Shyamalan opts for a film unburdened by the tectonic twist, even if some in the audience are probably still expecting one.
The first two acts of Trap are solid. The audience is introduced to Cooper Abbott (Josh Hartnett) as he takes his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a Lady Raven (Saluki Shyamalan) pop concert. However, the entire concert is actually a trap set up to catch The Butcher, a notorious serial killer. The plot twist - revealed early in the proceedings by Shyamalan - is that the affable Cooper is in fact The Butcher. For the next hour, Hartnett carries the film, almost single-handedly. The actor seamlessly alternating between saccharine-sweet friendliness to vacant sociopathy, as he desperately attempts to formulate an escape plan. The director takes great delight in ramping up the tension in these opening acts with several increasingly ridiculous curveballs.
Inevitably, Cooper has to escape the arena and finally, backed into the last remaining corner, Cooper plays his only remaining hand in a last ditch attempt for freedom. It’s here that Trap loses the atmosphere and tension built up in the opening two acts, and with so much of the film remaining, the story meanders into a frustrating purgatory with a semi-satisfying payoff. Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka (a real-life RNB artist), plays Lady Raven, and also wrote and performed all of the songs used by her fictional persona. Comfortable performing on stage, sadly Saleka does not posses the gravitas or indeed skills to portray the pop sensation off stage.
Worse still is the casting of Hayley Mills as Dr Josephine Grant, a brilliant criminologist working alongside the FBI. Completely miscast, her (thankfully brief) contributions are a distraction at best and I did wonder if the Casting Director cast her in the role simply because one of her most famous films is The Parent Trap. Too good an opportunity to pass up?
Nonetheless, Trap is a decent thriller, delivering sufficient thrills despite the third act failings.
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