Aug 212 min read

FILM REVIEW: TRAP (15) ESP RATING: 3/5

A compelling thriller... until it gets caught in a trap!

Watching an M Night Shyamalan film – director of such films as The Sixth Sense and Split – is like playing a game of roulette, will it be a hit or a miss? Let’s spin the wheel to find out.

While the filmmaker has had his share of misfires – The Last Airbender, After Earth etc –

to negate his more stellar work, my optimism remained intact for Trap, thanks to the brilliance he’s displayed in the past.

His latest film starts off strong as a gripping thriller, but unfortunately, it falters in the third act, as it overstays its welcome. It feels like a concept better suited for a one-hour TV episode rather than a feature film, as it begins to lose steam.

The film delves into the morally complex world of Cooper Adams (Pearl Harbor star Josh Hartnett, who is having a bit of a career resurgence), a seemingly affable dad who takes his teen daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a pop concert – only to discover it’s a carefully planned ‘sting’ operation aimed at capturing him.

While he masquerades as a loving family man and a firefighter in Philadelphia, Cooper is actually the infamous serial killer known as The Butcher, with a haunting history of 12 confirmed victims and another potential captive in his basement.

As the narrative unfolds, Cooper finds himself in a precarious balancing act, trying to evade criminal profiler Josephine Grant (the legendary Hayley Mills), while also ensuring his daughter enjoys the concert – all while keeping his dark secret hidden.

Sounds thrilling, right? Who doesn’t enjoy a good cat-and-mouse chase?

Interestingly, the revelation that Cooper is the killer was made in the trailer, leading many to speculate that it was just another one of Shyamalan’s classic ‘misdirections’. Some even speculated that this would be a secret sequel to The Sixth Sense. But no – what we saw in that trailer is exactly what we got. But that’s okay.

The concept is intriguing and ripe with potential, but much of it goes unrealised. The film would have greatly benefited from a deeper exploration of the father-daughter relationship, but instead it spends excessive time on the concert’s singer – portrayed by Seleka Night Shyamalan, the daughter of the director.

Sadly this choice felt more like a vanity project, overshadowing what could have been a truly remarkable story that fell into M Night’s ‘hit’ collection.

But this instead comes somewhere in the middle – as it gets trapped in its own concept.

ESP Rating: 3/5

Mike Clarke