Has any filmmaker had a rise/fall/rebirth arc like M. Night Shyamalan? His breakthrough film, The Sixth Sense, arrived 25 years ago, drawing not-entirely-undeserved comparisons to Spielberg. The next year, Unbreakable was also well-received, and Signs was a huge hit in 2002.
Then came a series of flops and a backlash. But nearly a decade ago, starting with 2015’s The Visit, Shyamalan returned to basics and made hits again. The same film critics who used to make fun of him have embraced this later era of his career while rehabilitating the reputations of his older movies like The Village and The Lady in the Water.
Shyamalan’s new film, Trap, is the first unalloyed triumph of the director’s post-comeback career. It has a great concept that takes it in creative directions. And it’s buoyed by a dynamite performance from Josh Hartnett, another guy whose best days were thought, until recently, to be behind him.
While Trap, written and directed by Shyamalan, isn’t precisely in the horror genre, it’s more of a suspense thriller, although it goes into some horrifying directions.
Cooper (Hartnett) is a dad who takes his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to the arena concert of the Ariana Grande-like pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan, the daughter of the director). There’s a serial killer called The Butcher on the loose, and while the police and FBI don’t know who he is or what he looks like, they have reason to believe he’s at the concert, one of the 3000 dads on hand to see the teeny-bopper pop star. A big-shot FBI profiler (Hayley Mills) is on the scene, hoping to catch the killer. And Cooper is that killer. Hartnett tries to figure out a way to slip out of the concert undetected while playing the doting dad and keeping his double lives separate.
The film successfully keeps the suspense up for over an hour at the concert while continuing for a bit outside the arena. There are a couple of scenes that use smartphone technology creatively, especially of the type that may be available to a pop star with a massive following. But the key is Josh Hartnett, who gives his best performance since The Virgin Suicides in 1999. He’s simultaneously menacing and charming, the kind of guy who can convincingly sweet-talk his way past security. Newcomer Ariel Donoghue is heartbreaking as the daughter, while Saleka Shyamalan is convincing as the pop star who does more than sing and dance. Hayley Mills’ casting seems to be a play on the word “trap” since she was in the original The Parent Trap movie.
The movie gets too cute with the pop psychology. The concert is less than realistic, especially since it takes more set breaks than any I’ve ever attended. And most plot beats require the law enforcement personnel to be idiots. But Trap is a well-constructed and propulsive effort.
