Trap (2024) Review: Thoroughly Entertaining, Devastatingly Silly

In this psychological thriller film, we see a serial killer getting trapped in a packed stadium with his daughter as law enforcement tries their best to apprehend him in any way possible. Facing the real challenge of being arrested, the movie primarily showcases Cooper Adams’s desperation to get out of the stadium by any means necessary without getting caught.

Trap Movie Review

Let’s be honest – M. Night Shyamalan hasn’t been having the best of times with his movies of late. Most have been duds for a while and horror enthusiasts have been waiting for a chance to celebrate the director who brought titles such as The Sixth Sense and Split. Well, he made The Last Airbender too, so… there’s that. Anyway, 2024’s Trap, thus, is an exciting movie focusing on serial killers and a little mind game while we are at it.

However, this movie is sort of a bittersweet experience to watch. On the one hand, the excellent performances from everyone in the movie leave you devoted to following their journeys throughout the runtime, while on the other, you can’t help but shake the feeling that we get very little of the psychological thriller aspect and a lot more of a Taylor Swift-esq concert with screaming girls and whatnot.

Trap focuses on family man-cum-serial killer Cooper Adams who, we are shown within the first 30 minutes, has a man trapped in his basement and is having too much fun watching him beg for his life. This movie isn’t about whether or not Cooper is a serial killer – he definitely is. The point is how he will escape this elaborate “trap” that the FBI has set up during a Lady Raven concert. He quickly clocks the elaborate security measures and realises that it’s there to catch him. All is well and good. However, the problem starts right after this.

The movie quickly devolves into Cooper trying any means necessary to get out of this arena but all of his efforts are in vain. However, the efforts that the movie ends up showing us are rather lax and are built on a ton of luck. We are shown that Cooper is a charming man which, is fair enough, but apart from that, we don’t ever feel that anticipation and the squirming in the seats and wonder whether or not he will get out of this alive. The “mind games” that he supposedly is expected to play with the FBI profiler also fall flat a bit because there is a lack of trying on the protagonist’s part to get out of this in one piece.

Cooper surprisingly, apart from his charm, tries only a handful of truly shocking things that are thwarted by the profilier’s insight which was quite fun to watch. But apart from that, you feel like he is doing random things to get out of this mess without truly coming up with an insane plan. Like, at one point, his plan is supposedly to convince his teenage daughter to sneak through a trap door on the floor without explanation and Riley’s reaction to his father’s insane comment is everything that you’d expect and more. That’s exactly how you, as an audience, also feel.

However, the biggest issue that I found was that the film felt directionless when it came to what vibe it was trying to nail down. Trap features too many moments of Lady Raven’s performances and songs that dilute the tension thoroughly. At one point I was convinced that we were watching a concert film, with a B-plot concerning a serial killer. The necessity of focusing on the pop star for as long as we did in the movie is thoroughly forced and unnecessary and, after a point, is a little funny as well. You wonder why this random pop star with millions of fans is out in the streets trying to nab a serial killer without notifying anyone. It’s so odd.

Another gripe I have with the film is that Shyamalan taking this film out of the packed stadium to random locations all around town takes away from the tension. There’s something about being trapped in a location with no means of escape that truly binds you to the story. However, the Trap movie immediately gets diluted the moment Cooper gets out of the arena with Riley by threatening Lady Raven (which is another enigma that I can’t help but feel rage about but I digress) and after that, the film seems to limp down the road trying to make any concept stick. It’s so frustrating because the pacing of the film is pretty great and at no point will you feel bored with it, but the glaring problems leave you feeling so annoyed because you know this could’ve been such a tense watch had the director didn’t make putting the spotlight on his daughter his primary objective here.

It’s also a shame because Josh Hartnett is simply fantastic as Cooper. His mannerisms and the way his entire being seems to embody this uncatchable serial killer are truly captivating and leave you feeling uncomfortable. The way he stares at people and manipulates them is scary and, with a better script, this could’ve been a truly terrifying and haunting tale. Other than him, Ariel Donoghue is also great at Riley – she is bubbly and cute as the star-struck fan girl of a sensational pop star. Alison Pill as Rachel, Cooper’s wife, is also fantastic and really leaves you rooting for her in the end.

Final Thoughts

Trap is surprisingly watchable in spite of its glaring issues and doesn’t drag even though the latter half of the film feels totally forced and unnecessary. I think its actors are its biggest strengths and carry the film with the portrayals of their characters. However, this feels more like a Saleka Shyamalan concert film than a psychological thriller film, which is genuinely sad because you can see the potential here. Ah well.

PSA: When it comes to the Trap post credit scene, there is only a mid-credit scene involving Jamie learning about Cooper’s identity. It’s funny but adds nothing to the story.

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