M. Night Shyamalan is back. The Oscar winner is diving back into the world of thriller and brings Josh Hartnett with him. The plot centers around a serial killer named “The Butcher”, who happens to be attending a concert with his daughter only to realize have targeted him at the venue. Now, Shyamalan can be hit or miss. The writer-director has been more hit lately when he’s reverted back to small scale films.
The premise itself sounds great and the cast for the upcoming film is top notch. Trap also includes Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Ariel Donoghue, and Saleka Shyamalan. The upcoming mystery thriller is scheduled to be released in theaters on August 9, 2024. Trap has the potential to be one of M. Night Shyamalan’s best films, but there’s some concerns that it could turn out to be one of his worst.
The Serial Killer Reveal
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Shyamalan clearly revealed that Connor was a serial killer because he wanted us to know. This isn’t some shocking twist because the whole story is based on what he’s going to do now that the cops are on to him. The concern lies in the lack of mystery that comes with solely focusing on Josh Hartnett’s character. I love the angle of following the serial killer for this type of film; it allows us to understand his psyche and him having a daughter is simply perfect.
However, we need the perspective from the cops are well. There’s some notable plot holes that need to be addressed. If the Police know that the serial killer is at the concert, then why is Cooper able to freely walk nearly and around the cops? Shouldn’t they know what he looks like? After all, they got a information that he would be at a concert, so how would they even know that in the first place? As I previously mentioned, Shyamalan’s films can be hit or miss; sometimes the filmmakers tries to get too clever for his own good.
This is probably over reacting as there’s likely a main cop figure in the film. However, we need to understand their side and what they know overall. It’ll heighten the tension on Connor’s plight, and can add some intrigue and suspense on both sides of the spectrum.
The Blatant Exposition
I hate to be a negative Nancy, but the blunt exposition stuck out like a sore thumb. I didn’t particularly like James telling Cooper about the cops plan. It re-enforces how the plot hole of how these don’t know who they’re looking for. Plus, it feels lazy as Shyamalan could’ve come up with an intense way to reveal that the police was on Cooper’s tale. The serial killer reveal also looked bad since the Oscar nominee could’ve played with the mystery on who the serial killer is.
Again, a great story can come out of revealing The Butcher’s identity in the trailer. However, it’s one of the missed opportunities that could come back and haunt Trap. Exposition dialogue often feels unnatural and can kill the drama tension within a film. Given that the main focus is on the concert and not ways for Connor to escape, it feels that Trap lacks the narrative structure to be a feature length film. Hopefully, the exposition is kept to a minimum and the writer-director has incredible sequences planned for a film with so much potential.
The Lack of Action
I understand with a premise of the nature that Shyamalan didn’t want to reveal too much in the trailer. However, the lack of action is quite troublesome. We get great shots of Josh Hartnett’s reaction on possibly being caught (if he is the serial killer that is). However, we never see an action on some methods on trying to escape. This doesn’t mean that Shyamalan needed to show an entire sequence of Cooper coming in contact with the cops.
However, little moments from sides would helped propel the suspense even further. Little moments of Cooper scouting the cops or even having a full blown freak out in the bathroom gives him a dimension that further reveals his character. With the narrative of him being a killer being revealed, so sequences of him coming in contact with a police officer or even trying to escape could’ve been shown. Trap could be a slow burn film and that’s perfectly fine, but the trap mainly puts the focus on the concert itself instead of really detailing the intense situation. Hopefully, this is just me over reacting as Shyamalan typically knows what he’s doing when it comes to movies like this.
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