After being one of the producers of the disappointing drama The Watchersfrom his daughter Ishana Shyamalan, M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Knock at the Cabin), one of the most polarizing filmmakers ever, seems this time to want to give his daughter Saleka’s career a boost. In addition to having created the 14 pop songs of Trapa thriller that is alternately breathtaking and exasperating from her father who plays the role of her uncle, the singer-songwriter plays Lady Raven, a charisma-less Ariana Grande, whose show is the pretext to catch a serial killer nicknamed the Butcher.
This psychopath hides behind the mask of Cooper (Josh Hartnett, who changes expression in a nanosecond), a father to whom one would give the good Lord without confession. While he accompanies his daughter (adorable Ariel Donoghue) to the Lady Raven concert, Cooper learns from a salesman (amusing Jonathan Langdon, who we see again in a post-credits scene) that the auditorium has been placed under high surveillance by the FBI.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER
Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue in a scene from the film Trap
From then on, Cooper will try by all means to get out without being arrested by the police placed under the orders of a profiler (Hayley Mills, underused). Moreover, the latter shares a family resemblance with Cooper’s late mother (Marcia Bennett), who appears surreptitiously to the eyes of her disturbed son. Shyamalan will clumsily exploit the maternal channel, making each appearance of the specter useless.
Although we have to endure Lady Raven’s insipid songs, we have to admit that the cat-and-mouse game orchestrated by M. Night Shyamalan is not lacking in rhythm, action, ideas or humor.
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s unsettling photography and Noemi Katharina Preiswerk’s nervous editing contribute greatly to this. Also, we have rarely seen Josh Hartnett have so much fun on screen, switching with ease from the dad with embarrassing jokes to the unscrupulous assassin. In fact, the actor makes his character so endearing that we sometimes take his side.
Where the shoe pinches is when Shyamalan brings Lady Raven into the action in the second act. While she sings without a false note, Saleka Shyamalan plays her part with disconcerting falseness. So much so that every scene in which she is involved turns into ridicule. It is true that there is no shortage of improbabilities in Trap.
Then comes the third act, marking the arrival of Alison Pill, impeccable as Cooper’s model wife. Unfortunately for the Canadian actress, the further the plot advances, the more the last act becomes cluttered with laughable twists. “What time for the punch?” one would like to shout to the filmmaker once known for his punchy finales. Well, when it finally arrives, more than one will doubtless say: all that for that?
Indoors
Thriller
Trap (VF Trap)
M. Night Shyamalan
Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan
1 h 45