 taking his daughter Riley (played by Ariel Donoghue) to see her favourite artist, Lady Raven){kind=link}
Trap opens with Cooper (played by Josh Hartnett) taking his daughter Riley (played by Ariel Donoghue) to see her favourite artist, Lady Raven (played by Saleka Shyamalan) at a venue that will look familiar to all Toronto audiences (even if it’s moonlighting for a stadium in Philadelphia, we know better). Just like audiences knew from the first time they saw that it was an M. Night Shyamalan film, that Cooper’s ultimate girl-dad performance was a cover for something more sinister, even if you didn’t see the trailer which revealed the premise and first twist of the film, that concert isn’t just a concert, but a trap for Cooper, who is a serial killer known as The Butcher.
Since we started getting the trailers for this film months ago, there was a worry that the trailer gave away the entirety of the film because it revealed “the twist.” I did not think this would be an Abigail situation, that Cooper being trapped would turn out to be something we weren’t supposed to know for a while as we watched the film. And I was right. It’s revealed fairly early on. Additionally, I was certain that by showing what appeared to be the twist in an M. Night film, there must still be some sleight of hand and additional twists planned for the film. I was right about this too, however, I think these twists could have been a little streamlined with perhaps one fewer as one of the cat and mouse beats near the end felt a little repeated.
When people talk about M. Night Shyamalan, it is the twists that tend to get focused on or that he does tend to use stylized dialogue, but something that doesn’t get talked about a lot is his blocking and framing of shots. He is a master of it. He creates so much added tension alone from this, it is a true skill.
Perhaps equally overlooked since much of his work, like Trap, is marketed as thrillers, is his humour. There is a lot of humour inherent in the direction and performances but I’m going to call out a specific choice that, I think, shows some of his humour. The person playing Dr. Josephine Grant, the profiler who has created the trap for Cooper, is played by none other than Hayley Mills – who starred as the dual leads in the original The Parent Trap (1961). The master parent trapper is back in action. This felt as much of a joke as the mid-credit scene he included in the film to wrap it up.
You’ve probably already noticed Lady Raven is played by Saleka Shyamalan, M. Night’s daughter, who has also worked with him on Servant and had her music appear in Old. In Trap, she plays a pop superstar recognizable everywhere, selling out stadiums, who can quickly get aid over Instagram Live. While Josh Hartnett might be playing at an ultimate girl-dad, M. Night may just be, if part of the genesis of Trap was to bring attention to his daughter’s music. None of the songs immediately ear-wormed into my head, but I felt they worked really well with the film and felt both well placed for the artist while also contributing to the scenes. This would not be great if the sole purpose of Trap was to launch a music career. But, if he wanted to do that, he’d just direct a music video for her. The fact that until the end credits rolled, I forgot Saleka was related to M. Night, means this was an effective partnership.
Trap is in theatres now.
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