‘Trap’ – Review
Josh Hartnett ramps up the tension and terror as he reveals a depth for darkness with a taut performance that will give you a panic attack in M. Night Shyamalan’s pounding new thriller, Trap.
A man and his teenage daughter realise they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event while watching a concert.
M. Night Shyamalan has made a career for himself as a filmmaker who’s not afraid to stretch himself narratively and look for new avenues to scare his audience. He takes audiences back into an arena of pure kinetic tension and mounting paranoia in Trap. Shyamalan reveals his cards up front in Trap, as everyman Cooper (Josh Hartnett) takes his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert for high-flying pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan). But there’s a catch: Cooper is, in fact, a brutal and efficient serial killer who already has his next victim in wait, and then cottons on to the fact that this whole concert is actually a large trap to ensnare him and stop him before he can get his next kill in. And from there, it gets very interesting. Shyamalan is upfront with his narrative, but this is a picture of severe twists and turns, all led by Hartnett’s shifty and feral killer, and you’re kept on your toes the whole way through.
Josh Hartnett was the teenage heartthrob of the early 2000s, and he’s made a full circle turn as an actor and has now returned to Hollywood and the studio system to show off just what he can do. And he really goes for it here in Trap. When we’re first introduced to Cooper, he’s portrayed as your everyday, doting dad, but in a shift, his real self rises to the surface, and we then realise we’re in for an incredibly dangerous performance. As Cooper, Hartnett shows off a unique mask, with a ‘faked’ level of interest and empathy that he uses to placate those around him, and what we’re looking at is a monster playing at being normal. In his performance, it’s almost as if Hartnett’s senses are heightened, and he’s damned wired as we see his own sense of self-preservation come into play, and things get nasty quickly.
Hartnett gives a very layered performance in Trap, and while it would be easy for this role to simply become one-dimensional, through the narrative playing out we see him almost questioning the uncontrollable darkness that sits in his soul. Hartnett does play Cooper as a straight-up monster, but there’s also reconciliation with the last shred of humanity in his soul and the love that he has for his family, even if they are used as a shield to help hide his devilish impulses. Trap allows Hartnett to play with a persona and a character that we’ve never really seen him play with before, and this is a narrative driven by his own impulse. Hartnett keeps audiences guessing with his performance, and due to the situation, you never know what he’s about to do next, and it’s damn nerve-racking.
Trap grabs you by the throat, and it’s fun to watch a horror picture that is driven singlehandedly by a character. There’s also a point of difference with its ‘Silence of the Lambs thrown into a Taylor Swift Concert’, and it keeps Cooper’s movements and actions fresh. Minute by minute, you’re kept prime in your seat, and Shyamalan does a fair few unexpected things that will keep audiences off guard. This mixture of mounting paranoia and sudden violence throws you back in your seat. Trap is a film for an audience looking for a slightly intellectual thriller, where the established rules are broken in favour of something different, and unexpected territory is then explored.
M Night Shyamalan’s Trap is a cloistered and stressfully tense watch, and gives us a performance from Josh Hartnett that we hadn’t yet seen before. It’s twisty and dark, and with an intriguing character, and thanks to his dark motives and impulses, you’ll find yourself gripping your seat rest with dread.
Image: Warner Brothers Pictures
