Trap | Film Review

 

While at a concert with his daughter, Cooper (Josh Hartnett) discovers that the concert is being used to trap a notorious serial killer.

I am always first in line for the latest M. Night Shyamalan movie regardless of the plot, so it was great that this plot actually looked really interesting.

Unfortunately, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the film. I didn't love it, but it was a fun ride and I was definitely engaged and interested from the beginning to the end. 

So it was a weird one!

For a start, it played like a comedy when it didn't feel like it was supposed to.

The suspension of disbelief that you need to truly believe any of these events could happen is crazy, let alone being expected to believe that all of them happened in quick succession.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that not one realistic thing happened in the film.

And that was what made it comedic. Every time something unrealistic happened, it was just funny! My entire cinema was cracking up at moments that seemed like they should have been taken seriously.

There was so many odd acting choices that I couldn't work out if they were directed that way for the purpose of the film, or if the actors were just making weird choices. And what made it even more off was that a lot of these choices made no sense by the time the film ended. It wasn't 'oh, she did this action because of this piece of backstory we don't know yet', it was 'oh, she did that for no reason and it didn't really work'.

None of the characters felt authentic, but because the story itself feels so unbelievable it actually weirdly makes sense that the characters feel fake too!

And the last thing I didn't like was completely my own fault. In my mind, the signature thing about Shyamalan movies is a twist. So I sat waiting for some huge, exciting twist that I was never promised and shouldn't have been looking for.

But in saying all of this, why I had mixed feelings was because this was a really fun watch. In all of the unbelievable events, I had a great time!

It was also really original, and I will always be here for original stories in whatever form they take, whether I personally like them or not. 

Overall, I definitely think this film is worth watching, even if it feels more funny than realistic! It's a weird one, but I'm kind of excited to see it again.

6/10