To call M. Night Shyamalan’s filmography a “mixed bag” is an understatement — for every “The Sixth Sense,” you get “The Happening” — but I’m beyond pleased to say that the Philadelphia-loving writer, director, and producer really knocked it out of the park with his 2024 film “Trap.” Apparently, people on Netflix are noticing, because according to FlixPatrol, it’s crushing it on the streamer.
If you’re unfamiliar with “Trap,” first of all, I’m so sorry. Second of all, you should go and watch “Trap,” because it rules … and again, it’s easy to do if you have a Netflix subscription. As Shyamalan himself described it, “Trap” is what you would get if you mixed Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning crime drama “Silence of the Lambs” with Taylor Swift’s billion-dollar grossing, culture-commanding Eras Tour, and the result is incredible; as if that wasn’t a good enough elevator pitch, the movie is also based on a real sting operation, Operation Flagship, that took place in 1985.
Basically, authorities tricked fugitives into going to a Washington D.C. convention center by promising free football tickets, and in “Trap,” we learn pretty much immediately that dorky dad Cooper (Josh Hartnett), who’s accompanying his daughter to a concert put on by Lady Raven (the director’s real-life daughter Saleka Night Shyamalan), is not only the subject of a similar sting, but a notorious serial killer known as “The Butcher.” Once Cooper figures out the concert is, well, a trap, he goes on the offensive, with delightful and unhinged results. So what do critics think of “Trap,” and why is it Hartnett’s best-ever performance? (That last thing is subjective, but bet I can convince you.)
What did critics think of Trap when it came out?
Critics were decidedly mixed on “Trap,” which means that at least half of them are just totally wrong about this movie. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie only earned a 57% rating, which falls below the “fresh” threshold, and the consensus reads, “An arch thriller given some grounding by Josh Hartnett’s committed performance, Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ will ensnare those who appreciate its tongue-in-cheek style while the rest will be eager to wriggle out from it.” (I should note here that /Film’s own Jeremy Mathai mostly enjoyed it but did have some reservations.)
Writing for Time Magazine, Stephanie Zacharek wrote, “‘Trap’ isn’t the worst Shyamalan movie; no one would say it’s the best. It’s suspended somewhere in the murky middle, but at the very least it has an amiable goofiness.” At the Washington Post, Thomas Floyd opined, “Even when Shyamalan flirts with a novel idea — maybe stan culture and social media obsession are good things? — he neglects to follow through.” Some, like Lovia Gyarkye for The Hollywood Reporter, took issue with Saleka Night Shyamalan’s full-length concert: “The film is a concert movie for Shyamalan’s daughter, the musician Saleka, wrapped in a middling thriller kept afloat by a compelling performance from Josh Hartnett.” (Okay, that one’s fair.)
On a more positive note, some critics really liked “Trap”! For Rolling Stone, David Fear said, “It is undeniably camp, however, and we look forward to attending one of those midnight reclamation-revival screenings à la ‘Showgirls.'” Shirley Li expressed a similar sentiment for The Atlantic, saying the movie is “full of off-key, seemingly atonal beats that will likely alienate viewers hoping for more conventional horror-movie scares. Yet it also builds to a cohesive whole, and the movie’s peculiarity is gratifying at this stage in the director’s career.” Over at Vulture, Alison Willmore wrote, ‘”Trap,’ in other words, is as much a movie about the difficulties of staying present in the moment as it is about being a serial killer on the lam — and that, actually, is a twist worth savoring.” Finally, at The New Yorker, Richard Brody summed things up pretty well: “Like Cooper, Shyamalan confidently sees through the vanity. His vision is a sardonic one, and it feels as if his cinematic smirks conceal rage at the impotence and banality of which ordinary life is made.”
Honestly, Trap is one of Josh Hartnett’s best-ever performances
Now it’s my turn to sell you on “Trap,” a movie that just so happens to be a showcase for Joshua Daniel Hartnett. After making a comeback of sorts in the ensemble of Christopher Nolan’s 2023 masterpiece “Oppenheimer,” Harnett gets the chance to fully lead “Trap,” and thanks entirely to his performance, the movie is a blast; seriously, I do not think it would work with any other performer in the lead.
Like I said, we find out really early in the movie that Cooper is The Butcher — Cooper isn’t a particularly subtle guy and takes a bathroom break to check on a guy he’s holding captive in his secret murder lair — and we also learn that the entire concert is the titular trap. All of this benefits the movie, and M. Night Shyamalan knows it; burying the lede wouldn’t do anything here, and giving us all the information means that we just get to watch Cooper run amok in the concert venue and try to escape. Incredibly, the movie doesn’t end at the concert, and authorities end up following Cooper home with his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) and Lady Raven in tow, where the movie takes a few more hairpin twists and turns. Hartnett plays this film totally straight, which rules. He’s committed, earnest, and his Cooper is amazingly funny to watch; a scene where he confronts some armed forces on the roof of the venue while pretending to be a concessions worker is absolutely incredible, and his stand-off with Lady Raven at his house is also a total delight.
“Trap” isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun. What are you waiting for? Go watch it on Netflix.
