Trap Me if you Can

At the very least, Trap cements M.Night Shyamalan's place as father of the year 2024. Earlier in the year he produced The Watchers, giving his daughter Ishana her directorial debut and now he sits back in the chair himself to bring us a movie dedicated in part to the musical (and to a lesser extent acting) talents of his other daughter Saleka.

The set up is typically high concept Shyamalan. Friendly neighbourhood fireman Cooper (Josh Hartnett) takes his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see pop star Lady Raven (Saleka) in concert. Once there he notices a heavy security presence and discovers the whole thing is set up to catch notorious local serial killer "The Butcher". This a problem for Cooper as he is said serial killer and now he must try and escape the trap without spoiling his darling daughters big day.

The majority of the film takes place completely inside the concert and is pretty solid stuff. Hartnett is great as the psychopath who also happens to be a doting dad. You can see all the emotions at play; increasing panic, concern that his daughters night (and potentially life) may be ruined but also a little excitement and pride at how much attention he has been given. Sure, he's a murderer and you see him do some nasty stuff as he tries to maneuverer his way out of trouble but it's pretty hard not to be at least a little on his side. Fair warning, the way he goes about things is ridiculous and relies on coincidences and especially on people acting unrealistically, you don't get into restricted areas this easily and venue staff and cops aren't this dumb. It's all done in the name of fun though and you'll be entertained as long as you're suspension of disbelief can handle it. It helps that the concert element of the film really is well done and Saleka herself is clearly a musical talent. When it comes time for her to act things get a little bit dicier but she is far from the worst a proud parent has ever forced upon an audience.

Unfortunately, things don't end with the concert. Shyamalan can't help himself and stretches out a third act past at least three logical stoping points. After the characters leave the stadium there are escapes, reveals and a blatant opportunity for the directors daughter to wow us with her piano skills. None of this feels particularly necessary and will leave you wishing this performance hadn't bothered with an encore.

Trap is definitely not "Silence of the Lambs at a concert" as the director has bizarrely described it. Not simply because of the gulf in quality but because the two films have absolutely nothing in common either tonally or in terms of story and character. What Trap is, is a breezy thriller with a unique set up that is plenty of fun. Until it isn't any more.

6 over chatty merch sellers out of 10.

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