Review: ‘Trap’ kind of delivers, but in a different way

By Matt Pascarella

Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes

During “Trap” I thought I knew what the twist would be, but I was wrong. It’s hinted quickly that there is something up with Cooper, who has taken his daughter Riley to see popstar Lady Raven at a large arena. Police are looking for a serial killer, “The Butcher,” and security is extra tight at the concert. While the Butcher’s identity is unconfirmed, it seems like Cooper will stop at nothing to navigate around the FBI.

“Trap” stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Jonathan Langdon, Marnie McPhail and Kid Cudi.

Cooper (Hartnett) and daughter Riley (Donoghue) are seeing popstar Lady Raven (Shyamalan) in concert. Once they get to their seats, Cooper notices there are police and cameras everywhere.

While buying T-shirts, he learns from vendor Jamie (Langdon) that a serial killer named “The Butcher” is supposed to be at the concert and the FBI has set a trap for him.

At this point Cooper looks intrigued, but not alarmed.

It doesn’t take long for him to begin acting strange. Cooper averts Riley’s attention every time he sees FBI agents blocking an exit or doing security checks.

He steals a security card from Jamie and learns the secret password to gain access to restricted areas. He breaks into a briefing session and steals some equipment.

I felt like the viewer was being led to believe one thing, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure that the direction I was being pointed toward was correct.

He lies to Lady Raven’s uncle, in order to get Riley onstage to sing with her, because that got them closer to an unguarded exit. The whole time he’s observing his surroundings and forming a plan to leave the building.

At one point, a tour manager said, “your daughter’s never going to forget today.”

The look in Cooper’s eyes at various points were chilling. He eventually shows his cards to Lady Raven. When she offers Riley a ride in her limousine, maybe she can stop Cooper before it’s too late.

“Trap” follows a different line of actions than I initially anticipated. It was not as good as some of Shyamalan’s more well-known movies, like “The Sixth Sense,” “Signs,” or my personal favorite “The Others,” but if I stop focusing on the twist so much, I think overall this was a decent thriller/horror movie. Hartnett plays an unhinged character almost too well and the way he brings his daughter to a popstar’s concert and then makes crazy suggestions in an effort to avoid the FBI is more than unnerving. His actions, while you don’t really see them, are horrendous as well.

The movie leads you in a direction that makes you suspect Hartnett isn’t the nice guy you see him as in the beginning of the movie. I found his erratic actions and suggestions to Riley, like when he suggests they should go down a stairway leading to the basement of the venue, to be very unsettling – which made me eager to see how all this was going to play out. Was I scared? Not really. If you’re really curious to see where this went, I’d recommend renting it. Though if you are only somewhat curious, you can probably wait for it to become available on a streaming service you have.

Three and a half out of five stars.

Now available to rent. <