For some reason, I keep going to M. Night Shyamalan movies. I guess because he keeps making them. This one, though, felt different. The trailer was good. The music was good. The idea was cool… Surely, just once, he was going to nail it… right?

No.

No he is not.

Trap is a mess. M. Night Shyamalan reveals his hand right off the bat this time. Which I honestly loved. I think he relies heavily on having a huge twist in his other movies and tends to forget the little details. So maybe the strategy of the character having a secret, but the audience is in on it, could pay off. Unfortunately, M. Night Shyamalan still forgot the little details. The theme is honestly one of the cooler ones that Shyamalan has played with. A serial killer that is literally trapped and outgunned in a game of wits. He has been played and finds out he has been played. This is a cool idea. But how he gets played is just… annoying. Especially considering the main character, Cooper (our aforementioned serial killer played by Josh Hartnett), continually escapes impossible situations and outwits everyone at every turn.

Huge spoiler for really the only twist in the movie ahead, be warned

He gets outwitted by his wife… cool right? But she is placing a receipt for the concert at an abandoned house… that the serial killer hasn’t even used. So, as far as the FBI is concerned, they found a receipt at a house that does not fit fire-code. That’s it. They don’t know that The Butcher uses these houses. They just know he has an animal tattoo on his wrist. That’s it. There is no way in hell that the FBI sends 1,000 agents because of a receipt. Also, couldn’t the wife have just called in an anonymous tip directly naming her husband? Huge swing on the wife’s part if she truly thought her husband was a mass murderer.

Plot hole aside, the story just falls flat. The premise was the best part. Everything else is honestly just a bitter letdown. Cooper escapes numerous times with 100’s of witnesses. One especially egregious time when he somehow gets out of a limousine that is swarmed by 100’s of fans looking for their favorite singer. You’re telling me that not one of those people saw the limo door open and a man get out while changing clothes? The characters are flat, the acting is flat, and the plot is flat… Almost every plot point is laughable and honestly ridiculous. So many things have to happen exactly how they happen or Cooper is never making it out. Luckily, everything works out just right, every time.

It was just a little lazy on the storytelling is all. Which is weird because M. Night Shyamalan is usually pretty decent at setting up an interesting premise and keeping it interesting. But this one just went nowhere interesting.

That and this is obviously a vehicle for M. Night Shyamalan to show how talented his daughter is. Whom plays a very important (maybe the most important) role in the entire move. She also wrote all the music. But honestly, outside of that, has nothing to write home about.

This is for sure one of M. Night Shyamalan’s weaker movies. When coupled with Knock at the Cabin, M. Night Shyamalan has two pretty big misses in a row. Trap had a really cool idea and a really uncool everything else. I keep getting baited into these movies, and I’ll see the next one. But, Trap is for sure one you can skip.

I give Trap a 1 out of 4. Solely because it is watchable. It is funny, but just not intentionally. Also huge shoutout to a scene where Josh Hartnett takes his shirt off for no reason and eats pie. Then talks to an old woman pretending to be his mother. Just surreal shit to be honest.