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What’s Up Movie Peeps!? I’m Rich, and you may know me as the head of NI Wrestling, or as a member of the NI Comic Bullpen. But I’m also a huge fan of movies! So, it’s only natural that I should dive into some movie reviews for Nerd Initiative as well.
I will be reviewing the new movie Trap (2024) for my first NI Movies review, and don’t worry it will be completely SPOILER FREE!
Trap (2024) is written & directed by the legendary M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs). The movie stars Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down, 30 Days of Night) as Cooper, Ariel Donoghue (Wolf Like Me, Blueback) as Riley, Hayley Mills (Pollyanna, The Parent Trap) as Dr. Josephine Grant, and Saleka Shayamalan (Acting Debut) as Lady Raven.
To Catch a Killer
Trap tells the story of Cooper (Hartnett), a father who is taking his daughter Riley (Donoghue) to a Lady Raven (Shayamalan) concert. We soon find out that Cooper is also a serial killer called The Butcher, who abducts and dismembers victims.
Unfortunately for Cooper he has walked into a trap. As the entire concert is an elaborate trap set up by Dr. Grant (Mills) and Cooper is the guest of honor. At this point it becomes a human game of chess and as the police close in, Cooper must stay 2 steps ahead to ensure his escape, all while trying to be father of the year.
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Outwitting the Authorities
Let me start out with the biggest positive of this movie, the Hollywood return of Josh Hartnett. Hartnett delivers an impressive performance in the lead role. He somehow manages to play a loving, caring father, well at the same time doing everything in his power to evade capture. There are times in the movie where you find yourself routing for him, even though you know he’s the bad guy. He plays 3 or more roles just in this one role, and it is an acting clinic.
The rest of the main cast delivers as well. Saleka Shayamalan in her debut performance does an excellent job and pulls double duty as she wrote and performed all the original music for the film. Ariel Donoghue even though she is young, performs with a great poise to her. She shows you the depth of this young lady who has many different things going on in her life.
Big shout outs to Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Milk) who plays Rachel, and Jonathan Langdon (Robyn Hood, Run the Burbs) who plays Jamie. First, Allison Pill’s character Rachel is Riley’s mom/Cooper’s wife and even though we don’t see her till act 3, she steals the finale. Jonathan Langdon’s character Jamie not only does he tie up some loose story ends, but he also brings humor to the equation. Plus, make sure you wait till the credits start for a funny Jamie scene.
Lastly, the premise of this movie is unique and feels original. M. Night Shayamalan is known for twists and this time he gives you the twist upfront. Leaving other twists to play out and keep you guessing throughout the movie’s run time. Every time you think you know what’s going to happen, Shayamalan takes a left.
You Can’t Escape
I wish I could say there were no drawbacks to this movie, but there are. The biggest complaint for me was the amount of plot armor throughout the entire movie. It feels like every time Cooper runs into a challenge there is always an answer right there. Numerous times in the movie I felt like the suspense suffered due to an answer to a problem magically appearing.
That brings me to suspense in general. This movie is set up to be a psychological thriller, however for most of the runtime it lacks suspense which takes away the whole thriller aspect. I never felt like I was on the edge of my seat and even when I felt some suspense, it usually fizzled away.
I also feel like there wasn’t a lot of build to make you care about most of the characters. Granted the main characters all have good story arcs. However, most of the side characters you either never get a feel for, or the ones you get a little feel for there is no conclusion to their angle.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I did enjoy Trap (2024). The premise with the exceptional acting overcame the shortcomings for the most part. I think Josh Hartnett’s performance alone makes this movie worthwhile to give a watch. Although it is a movie that I think you could wait and see once it hits a streaming service rather than running out to see it in theaters.
Final Grade: 6/10
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