Released in theaters on August 2, 2024 through Warner Bros. Pictures, Trap is M. Night Shyamalan’s latest offering. A twice rescheduled theatrical release, if you missed it, arrived on digital platforms on August 30, 2024, and will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 5, 2024, but also becomes available for streaming on Max as of October 25th.
Plenty of ways to watch it, Shyamalan states the plot was inspired by the Washington D.C. “Operation Flagship” sting operation on December 15, 1985; which was organized by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Metropolitan Police to lure wanted fugitives to the Washington Convention Center under the pretense of free tickets. It resulted in over a hundred arrests; one of the largest and most successful mass arrests of fugitives by U.S. law enforcement.
Here is the synopsis for Trap – A father and his teen daughter attend a pop concert only to realize they have entered the center of a dark and sinister event. It features Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down 2001, 30 Days of Night 2007) as Cooper Abbott, Ariel Donoghue (Blueback 2022, Wolf Like Me series) as Riley Abbott, Saleka Night Shyamalan (in her feature debut) as Lady Raven, Alison Pill (Milk 2008, American Horror Story: Cult series) as Rachel Abbott, Hayley Mills (Pollyanna 1960, The Parent Trap 1961) as Dr. Josephine Grant, with the ubiquitous cameo by Shyamalan as Lady Raven’s uncle, who works as a spotter at the concert.
Going into any Shyamalan movie, most know there will be twists especially at the end, no matter how contrived. First, Shyamalan’s films should be taken with a healthy dose of salt; because of how deep and how out to leftfield he takes them. This does not count the twisted end he always has to put it. Why he does this, is anybody’s guess. Maybe he wants to revisit a world to expand like with 2000’s Unbreakable, 2016’s Split, and 2019’s Glass, or he has an aversion to definitive ends, and cannot help himself.
So, basing Trap on such a specific true incident hinders the narrative; because people in the know will expect certain beats to happen. They also know his penchant for twist/false endings, so even if you know about Operation Flagship, you know it is going to be different, and unless those differences are executed superbly, you are going to be bored out of your minds watching a farce of a real-life situation with no “believable” payoff.
Honestly, Trap comes off as a Psychological…Comedy. Yes, you read that right, and it is heavy on the comedy and very light on the psychology. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s (Blissfully Yours 2002, Challengers 2024) cinematography utilizes the face dominating the shot with the background in an almost fuzzed technique. This technique worked effectively in this year’s LongLegs evoking the intended claustrophobic feel, but Trap not so much. With Trap, it comes off as corny, and this is likewise with the dialogue. The dialogue is such that you know exactly who is who. There is no mystery with things said or being done that telegraph the narrative without little to no work by the viewer. There lies the horror. Everyone involved works with what they are given, giving the best over-the-top, intentional, or unintentional tongue-in-cheek performances given the circumstances.
M. Night Shyamalan’s movies are mostly hit or miss, with few landing in the middle. Trap’s like a partial trainwreck, you want to look away, but the pure shock of what you are witnessing prevents you. For this, Cryptic Rock gives Trap 3 out of 5 stars.
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