THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Being part of a Trap is a whole can of worms because if you know what you're in for, you have to figure how to avoid it. But if you don't know what you're in for, it can be easy to walk into.
PLOT
The 2024 film follow Cooper Abbott, a single firefighter who takes his daughter Riley to a concert of her favorite artist Lady Raven. After an intermission, he starts noticing how there is a high police presence around the venue. He asks a vendor named Jamie on what the fuss is about, resulting in the latter explaining that the FBI is planning to capture a serial killer known as 'The Butcher', having learned he will be in attendance. Little does Jamie know Cooper is the Butcher and is holding his latest victim Spencer (Mark Bacolcol) in a basement, which he is constantly checking security footage on his phone. Now knowing he has walked into a trap, he now plans to escape with his daughter before he can get caught. With FBI profiler Josephine Grant suspecting how he'll cause a big scene to make a break for it, Cooper has to spend more analyzing the escape before create any distraction. When stealing Jamie's ID card, a police radio and learnt the passphrase 'Hamilton' that'll make him be identified as an employee. With Grant predicting his movements, he changes things up with multiple distractions by pushing a woman off a stairway and setting off an explosion on a kitchen that severely injures another. Once Riley picks up on how strange he's acting since he keeps leaving her during the show, she asks for him to stay. When he does, he scouts the arena and notices secret exits for the artist. Desperately, he sets her up to be Lady Raven's "dreamer girl" to receive backstage access and be onstage with the artist, only when lying to Raven's uncle that his daughter recovered from leukemia. After giving his daughter the best moment of her life as the concert concludes, Cooper notices that the police are also guarding the exit and he boldly decides to reveal his identity to Raven, threatening to remotely kill Spencer remotely if she doesn't let him and his daughter ride out of the venue in her limousine. She complies but one-ups him with the visit the Abbott residence, wanting to surprise the family as an attempt to out the Butcher. There, she shares with Cooper's wife Rachel as well as the youngest son about the sting operation which was only possible thanks to an anonymous reporter finding a ticket receipt in a vacant house. She even shares Grant's profile about him that describes him to have maternal issues as well as OCD. Right after she chooses to perform with the living room piano, she steals Cooper's cellphone and uses it contact Spencer who describes what he saw before he was taken into the house. She then uses the information to share on a social media live-stream in which her followers narrow down where he could be. Since she locked herself in the bathroom to do this, Cooper goes on a mental breakdown and locks his wife & children upstairs just when he outs him. When he plans to drive off with her to the same vacant house, his family is able to escape and call the police on him. He is able to escape however by using a secret tunnel to sneak into Raven's limo disguised as a SWAT officer. When she alerts her mob of fans to stop him, the FBI does catch up but her gets away again when changing into another set of clothes in the process. As Raven meets Spencer who was able to escape thanks to one of her local fans, Cooper goes after Rachel for going against him. As he plans to kill her, she admits to suspecting he was hiding something and when she found the vacant house, she left the receipt and tipped off the cops that led to the sting. She spares herself some time by poisoning him with the same pills he's used on his victims. Grant is able to handcuff him after she and two officers are able to tase him down. Once he gets led into a police van and taken into custody, he hugs Riley goodbye but he chooses to plan an escape thanks to un-cuffing himself with a bicycle spoke. The film ends with Jamie watching the news and finding himself in shock of the Butcher's identity.
THOUGHTS
You know you’re in for something unique when the project is helmed by M Night Shyamalan for better or worse. Luckily, this is a case of something that was hella good from start to finish. The whole time, you are on edge with every single worm getting out of the can. Due to how it was filmed in an actual venue and M Night’s actual daughter Saleka performs songs she recorded, the authenticity peaks. And thanks to both Nöemi Preiswerk’s editing and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s cinematography, the suspense dials up at every second because just when you think the chase is over, it continues because it doesn’t want you to be safe once it starts. I think with that feeling set, it is able to tell a shocking tale of how some people can never change no matter how much we wish they could, nor can they accept being in the wrong. We all know actor Josh Hartnett can be a villain, but this one being front & center is his most distinguishable to also be looked at as one of his best performances to date. Cooper aka the Butcher is so shocking of a character because this is a guy who doesn’t want to change due to how he refuses to take accountability for all the pain he’s caused. With his own trauma being reflected through the visions of his mom, he feels he’s in the right to pass it on to those who don’t deserve it like Spencer. As any sadistic killer before him, he has satisfaction when doing the deed and doesn’t want to let go. Because of that, he tries everything he can think of before desperation exposes him. I mean when you put aside all the lives he takes, you know he’s an asshole using his daughter to try to escape once he knows he’s cornered. Even when the truth was out, he still kept trying to save himself because he was so sure that he can avoid consequences forever. The fact he’s able to use his goodbye to his daughter as an excuse to set up another escape proves he uses his intelligence for all the wrong reasons. Since we don’t know what he’ll do next, all we can do is pray that those who survived him can avoid his wrath. We all know Riley is as much of a victim as Spencer because she had no idea of what her dad is until the truth is pushed out which breaks her reality. Breakout Ariel Donoghue shows her to be the most vulnerable emotionally because she just expected to have the best day of her life only for it to become the worst. Thankfully, her idol became the most unlikely hero in this situation. It was awesome to see Saleka’s Lady Raven erform alongside Russ & Kid Cudi as fictional artists Parker Wayne & The Thinker respectively, but she proves to be more than a frightened individual because rather than save herself, she bravely gives her own improvisation to save Spencer and spill the beans which works. Was it risky? Yes but it was worth it since the guy got out with his life as she did. She knew she had enough power to do the right thing and of course she can’t do this without the one who inspired the trap to be made. Alison Pill was so raw as Rachel because she had her own confusion in what was her reality until she figured it out herself. Tipping off the cops was the best way for her to go about it because if he got caught there the way she was hoping, he would’ve not figured out it was her. She then tops herself in being ahead of the enemy because using his own weapon against him was pretty damn smart. If only that had killed him, the world would feel a little safer. You also had to give credit to Josephine because Hayley Mills was so impressive in making her so precise in knowing how people like the Butcher are gonna move. Criminals have a pattern and she analyzed better than anyone exactly how he’d act that he’d have to change plans on the fly. Had she not deduced that, I’m sure Cooper would’ve escaped sooner and smoother. Another character I happened to enjoy was Jamie. Jonathan Langdon was so entertaining when playing him because even he was entertaining to see. The guy was all about casually enjoying his day by having small talk with customers and could’ve not suspected to meet the Butcher himself. Because of an innocent perspective, you totally feel bad for him realizing he unknowingly helped him. Because of all these elements, I hope everyone can avoid another batch of the Butcher’s wrath because going after them will be asking to get caught. This movie is able to work well enough to be impressed throughout, but it doesn’t change the fact there were some moments that didn’t make sense to me. For instance, I can believe no one noticed up close what Cooper was doing, but it’s too big of a coincidence that not a single camera caught him. That’s more irritating than the fact no one heard his heard his conversation Jamie revealing the trap. If I was an earshot away from them, I’d spill the beans to everyone so they can keep their guard up. Now I don’t know if concerts happen to have this situation but please, don’t boo the security like the fans did in the opening. They don’t just protect superstars like Lady Raven, they also protect you from people like the Butcher. I was laughing with Riley’s former friend Jody being jealous of the former being the dreamer girl, but the subplot becomes too much when focusing on the latter’s mom who bumps into Cooper multiple times. I know the point is for him to be on edge, but she oddly came off too hostile in wanting their kids to make amends. It just wasn’t the time/place to talk about it. Since Cooper proves to be too smart for his own good, you can pick on the fact he should’ve known that he lost the receipt. But what becomes a bigger gripe is wondering if he would still get caught anyway if he were to ditch his car. If the cameras don’t catch you, that has to right? If not, then that’s absolute luck on his side. And what bothered me more than him vastly changing clothes twice to evade the police is the fact he doesn’t have a secret phone. If he doesn’t want to Spencer to live, he could’ve used that as soon as Raven locked herself in the bathroom. Lastly, reality is completely when the cops not only skip patting him down after he sits the bike up, but not a single officer sits in the back with him to make sure he doesn’t try anything. Had they been on top of him like they were the whole movie, he would’ve been in a cell already. Ignore this, then you’ll still enjoy the ride this movie takes you on. In short, Trap is another impressive thriller by Shyamalan for boosting the tension to the point where you’ll never know when it’s gonna stop. If you dig thrillers, then this should be your cup of tea.
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