12DOVE Verdict
M. Night Shyamalan drops the goofy twist for a tight, intense thriller
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If you are expecting some wild twist in M. Night Shyamalan's latest, you will be disappointed. There isn’t one. It doesn’t turn out that everybody was dead the whole time or that the wind was out to kill us. Here’s the crazy thing though: for once, Shyamalan doesn’t even need the third-act turnaround to deliver a wildly entertaining thriller.
In Trap, '90s heart-throb Josh Hartnett returns to the screen as long-suffering dad Cooper to teen daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue). The two are attending an arena concert by pop star Lady Raven (M. Night’s daughter Saleka Shyamalan) when Hartnett’s secret serial killer dad slowly realizes the entire concert is a ruse by the FBI to nab him. He spends the majority of the concert trying to find some way out, while ensuring his daughter still has the best night ever.
Granted, the Lady Raven sequences go on for a bit too long - M. Night is clearly enamored with his daughter’s talent as a pop singer - but other than that minor indulgence, this is a taught thriller that slowly ties a rope around Hartnett’s throat and squeezes as the gig rolls on.
M. Night himself cameos as a concert promoter that picks Riley to join Lady Raven on-stage, providing Cooper with a window to escape the police. Hartnett makes a surprisingly effective villain, barely suppressing his sociopathic rage to assure his daughter has the best-night-ever. Donoghue wins the day, however, vacillating between teenage elation over meeting her idol and absolute terror when she finds out her father is a stone-cold killer.
Trap is in US theaters now and is released in UK cinemas on August 9.
For more films to watch out for, check out our guide to the upcoming movies of 2024.
