Trap Review: Shyamalan's Thriller Is Unhinged & Unsettling (But Slightly Uneven)

M. Night Shyamalan is back, and baby, is he back. It's turning out to be a year of the Shyamalans, in fact, between the release of Ishana Night Shyamalan's divisive horror film "The Watchers," and Saleka Shyamalan starring as pop star Lady Raven in her father's "Trap." What can we say? We're here for it. "Trap" is an interesting exercise for M. Night as a filmmaker, because in many ways it's the master of the twist ending utilizing the ultimate anti-twist. 

There's a version of this film — likely one made by Shyamalan himself — where we get through three-quarters of the movie before we learn who the Butcher is. But here, Shyamalan undercuts his own instincts and tells us within the first five minutes, creating a much more interesting film in the process. Although it falls apart slightly in the third act (a treat the director is unfortunately unable to shake here), a tense narrative and unsettling performance from Josh Hartnett makes "Trap" a delightful late summer thriller.

On the surface, Cooper (Hartnett) is just a devoted dad, taking his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see her favorite musical artist Lady Raven, who occupies a Taylor Swift-esque space in the in-universe pop culture of "Trap." He's doing all the classic dad movies, between embarrassing his daughter and being utterly bemused by the frantic teens that surround him. But then we learn two pretty wild plot developments in quick succession.

Firstly, Cooper is a serial killer called the Butcher, and he casually has a young man trapped in the basement of one of his safe houses, presumably to be dealt with at a later time. Secondly, we get intel from the merch guy (Jonathan Langdon) of all people that the entire concert is actually just a sting operation for the FBI to capture the Butcher. This naturally ruins the concert for Cooper, because not only does he not get to watch Lady Raven, he has to try to figure out a way to get out of the stadium without getting nabbed by the police — or clueing his daughter in on his extracurricular activities.

Between "Oppenheimer" and now "Trap," we are currently in the midst of a Josh Hartnett renaissance, and it's richly deserved. Cooper probably wouldn't work without someone like Hartnett playing him — he's perfectly cast as the classic all-American dad, the kind of affable but nondescript and harmless person you generally don't look twice at. But in a weird way, he's almost more disturbing when he's play-acting as the perfect dad, with a slightly too loud goofiness and "go get 'em, champ" energy, than he is when he's actually in serial killer mode. Saleka Shyamalan also acquits herself well here, playing both the world-famous pop star and unexpected horror heroine with aplomb. She spends the majority of the film in the background, visual and auditory wallpaper for Cooper's antics, but she undeniably makes her mark.

In general, "Trap" serves as a reminder of how masterfully M. Night Shyamalan is able to build tension in his films, and Cooper's efforts to evade the police almost play out like a spy drama. He bobs and weaves throughout the stadium, constantly one step ahead of everyone else and effortlessly manipulating situations to his benefit. Cooper is written as clever in a way that makes you believe he actually could be a successful serial killer — he easily blends into the crowd, morphing himself into whatever he needs the other characters to see him as. The way he makes himself small and non-threatening as he pushes his way through a crowd of police officers is almost Clark Kent-ish.

That's not to say that "Trap" is perfect, though. Regrettably, it showcases one of M. Night Shyamalan's biggest flaws as a writer and a filmmaker, which is that he almost always struggles to stick the landing in the third act. With the perfectly calibrated tension of the stadium setting, it's somewhat deflating when we move to a second location late in the film, and "Trap" struggles to maintain the momentum of the first hour or so. You shouldn't see the work behind a good screenplay, and after the effortless fluidity of Cooper's misadventures in the stadium, you can actually feel how hard it is for Shyamalan to maneuver and orchestrate this third act. 

Still, "Trap" has a lot going for it, and many fans will likely find it one of his most narratively satisfying recent works. Most importantly, it's a lot of fun, largely thanks to Josh Hartnett's fairly unhinged performance in the lead role. It's so rewarding to see these two working together and getting so much out of the experience. Here's to many more crispy (yes, in true awkward dad fashion, we're going to try to make crispy happen) collaborations between them — maybe Hartnett will even prove to be Shyamalan's newest muse.

"Trap" hits theaters on August 2.