Trap: Where to Watch New M. Night Shyamalan Thriller & Is It Even Good?
There are no plot twists, but there's something else that's no less curious.
Recently, the master of mystical thrillers and fan of unexpected plot twists M. Night Shyamalan released a new movie. In Trap, the director decided to show the hunt for a madman through the eyes of the killer himself.
What Is Trap About?
According to the plot, a father takes his daughter to a concert of her favorite pop star Lady Raven. Suddenly, the area is cordoned off by the police. It turns out that there might be a ruthless serial killer among the concert-goers, nicknamed the Butcher. And as shown in the trailer, this criminal turns out to be the girl's father.
The main character's name is Cooper. And the whole Lady Raven concert is part of a police operation to catch him. All employees, including the singer herself, take part in the plan. At the same time, the appearance of the villain remains unknown to the law enforcement officers, so all the men who came to the concert automatically fall under suspicion.
Trap Is Inspired by a Real Sting Operation
The movie has several sources of inspiration. The first is the musical career of Saleka Shyamalan, the director's daughter and the actress who played Lady Raven. She wrote a soundtrack especially for the movie, and her father staged an impressive concert show for her that became part of Trap.
The second source is the real Operation Flagship, which took place in Washington in the mid-80s. The police sent free football tickets to a hundred escaped prisoners and then carried out a mass arrest.
Trap Is a Suspenseful Thriller that Delivers on Its Promises
Trap is not a horror movie. The Butcher's actions on screen, despite his creepy nickname, are more vegetarian in nature. Cinemas have not seen such a harmless madman for a long time; he even returns a knife that accidentally falls into his hands to its owner without hesitation. Everything bloody remains behind the scenes.
Trap is a classic thriller, and a thriller with elements of comedy. Shyamalan, as we know from The Visit and Split, has a great sense of humor, and here he finds the perfect use for it: a killer is forced to get out of a difficult situation while maintaining the mask of a good father.
Leading actor Josh Hartnett, who masterfully changes his friendly smile into a nervous, crooked grin every ten minutes, proves that he was written out of the big screen too early.
All of this may disappoint longtime fans of the director, who still expect him and his team to deliver either shock moves in the spirit of The Sixth Sense or acting acrobatics like James McAvoy showed in Split. There is nothing remotely similar in Trap, this movie gives the audience exactly what was expected from the trailers: a funny and interesting walk with a madman.
Where to Watch Trap?
Trap is available to buy or rent on Apple TV and Amazon Video.