“What’s with all the police trucks outside?” –Cooper
As the advertising teases, M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap is about a man who takes his daughter to see her favourite artist, Lady Raven, in concert. The fun evening is a bonding moment for the two, with nothing out of the ordinary is afoot. That is until Cooper (Josh Hartnett), a fireman by day, notices an alarmingly strong police presence at the stadium. Tactical police are around every corner, fancy new cameras are being installed, and the FBI makes an appearance, too. The average person would shrug it off as something related to the artist herself; the parasocial relationship to musicians has proven dangerous in the past, but nope. Cooper’s instincts are correct: the extra muscle to capture him, the infamous Philadelphia serial killer called The Butcher.
I have to hand it to the marketing team on this one; there is a clear path where this film could be framed in another way in the marketing, but to lead with a “twist” first is an admirable tactic for the famous director who loves his twists. With Trap, we get an unusual approach from Shyamalan, a relaxed, easy-going, fun Shyamalan who takes the audience along for the ride as Cooper, played by the always delightful Josh Hartnett, tries to escape without raising suspicions with his daughter or getting caught by a determined FBI profiler. The pressure would break almost any average criminal, but Cooper is slicker than your average. Despite his two lives colliding in the most inopportune place in the presence of his dear daughter, he keeps calm and works hard.
That this film is an absolute blast at the start would be an understatement. It is genuinely light-hearted, fun, and thrilling as Cooper reads like a typical father, complete with corny dad jokes and an endearing level of support for his daughter’s well-being. It also exhibits the typical peculiarities of a serial killer – OCD, lying with ease, weaponizing charm, and being an opportunist. It’s all so effortless and so refreshingly funny. At some points, Cooper gets scarily close to getting caught, but his understated skills come in clutch, and he even chuckles over how ridiculously smooth he is and how easy it is for him to minimize his threat level. How he managed not to be picked out from the crowd in the first five minutes is beyond me. The man is suspicious AF, but Shyamalan and Hartnett have fun teasing us and the folks around Cooper with how foolish they are to get conned by an easy smile and handsome face.
As a longtime Hartnett fan, watching Trap was soooo rewarding. I never felt like Shyamalan had a solid directorial hand over his actors; his films often relied on intrigue and the goings-on that no actor has ever really stood out. Shyamalan usually has muted famous actors with roles that never require them to utilize any of the skills or talents that make them unique or famous. That is not a bad thing in any way; I say this just to set the stage for the fact that Shyamalan must like Hartnett and that natural chill charisma the actor possesses because Trap feels like a project crafted with an intimate awareness of the feeling Hartnett induces when he is on screen.
I would liken Hartnett to Keanu Reeves, as he is a likeable actor who is rarely praised and has a very regular, relaxed presence. In Trap, Hartnett is benefits from the fact that Cooper is an actor himself, constantly slipping in and out of a role depending on the situation, while a monster stirs within. Penny Dreadful stans, does this sound familiar? He effectively blends his charm and relaxed energy into Cooper, who is anything but relaxed, and harnesses that lovely guy energy as if it were a non-serrated blade, tactical and efficient.
Trap is entertaining for several reasons, the top reason being how intentionally funny it is. I cannot confidently say that Shyamalan has been deliberately funny in his prior films. Still, here he is, getting us into the innate absurdity of the situation and the comical dynamic of a confident, OCD-driven typical serial killer who throws on a mask for every situation he is in. The writing is silly, and the dialogue is unnatural, making it fun and engaging. Cooper is laughing, too, because the thought of a whole operation designed to catch him is exciting despite being highly inconvenient. The circumstances he gets into are always humorous (to a point) but also intense because, as we are reminded through his actions and Shyamalan’s directing, he is dangerous and will resort to anything to get the heat off him.
To keep it frank, Shyamalan nails this story until the point where the concert ends and what happens from there. At this point, it is beyond annoying and decidedly not fun or engaging anymore. However, Hartnett remains consistent, and Trap remains watchable because of how much the film relies on him.
The single-location thriller is perfectly balanced in the first half with the right amount of telling the audience what the obstacles are for Cooper and exploring the minor blind spots in the plan Cooper manages to exploit. Shyamalan’s directing is sharp and precise, allowing us to focus entirely on Cooper’s mannerisms, actions, and thought processes. We know when to tense up, relax, and shake our heads with a chuckle, but most importantly, we feel a thrill down our spine at every turn. That is until we take one turn too many, and the train derails off the tracks.
Trap is a blast until Shyamalan pulls a Shyamalan, overdoes it, over-explains, and forgets why we’re here. The poster reads, “30,000 fans, 300 cops, 1 serial killer, no escape,” but in true Shyamalan fashion, he adds too much to the narrative in some misguided attempt to explain the what, why, how, who and when of it all when all we care about is, will he escape? The build-up is significant; almost a near-perfect three-act structure exists within the confines of the concert’s runtime. Without getting into spoilers, the story should have ended when we reached the concert’s end, and Cooper is at his make-or-break moment. Alas, we get too much, dulling the fun and turning into a trainwreck we can’t look away from because Hartnett is the conductor we can’t keep our eyes off.
Muses of Media 
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