word of advice : This article take despoiler for Trap ( 2024 )
Summary
As someone who become toM. Night Shyamalanmovies expecting enjoyable absurdity , I could n’t help but feel lease down whenTrap ’s ending deform out to be so uncharacteristically fair . If I try on to judge the Josh Hartnett comeback objectively , 2024’sTrapis by no means a bad movie . Hartnett gives another one of those late - career performances that convey his easy charisma into a darker post , the pacing is tense , and there are a fistful of fun plump for characters . However , as someone who once defendedM. Night Shyamalan ’s silly but fun twist endingsat duration , I was still disappointed .
WhenTrap ’s endingarrived , the biggest surprise was my deficiency of surprisal . The last - minute twirl that I had come to gestate from the director was nowhere to be find , and I was left with a serviceable thriller that work alright but could have been directed by any number of journeymen / woman . Shyamalan’sThe Sixth Senseleft everyone dazzled by the inventiveness of its twist , but 2004 ’s unfairly malignedThe Villageand 2002 ’s guilty pleasureSignsleft viewers evenly shocked , even if their twists made a good deal less sensory faculty . In dividing line , evenTrap ’s post - credits scenewas unsurprising .
Trap sees Josh Hartnett ’s dad / serial killer Cooper trapped at a pop sensation ’s concert , but why do young attendees keep fainting during the show ?
Trap’s Ending Didn’t Live Up To M. Night Shyamalan’s Expectations
Trap Doesn’t Feature An Outlandish Twist Like Most Shyamalan Movies
Like a lot of viewing audience , I do n’t come to M. Night Shyamalan movies require a utterly passable thriller likeTrap . I seek out the director ’s works to see turn that do n’t quite add up but shock me so much that I discover it difficult to care . Trap ’s ending could have revealed that Hartnett ’s Cooper was n’t really the Butcher and that the FBI had focused on catching the wrong man because the unhinged protagonist merely believed himself to be the killer whale . The film could have stop with Jonathan Langdon ’s Jamie helping Cooper miss , only to reveal he was an FBI federal agent .
There are at least a dozen absurd wind that could have upgrade Trap ’s story .
Lady Raven could have been Cooper ’s unlikely accomplice throughoutTrap ’s intact story , or Cooper ’s wife Rachel could have revealed she was bring with her married man . There are at least a dozen absurd twists that could have elevatedTrap ’s story not in a traditional sense , but in the cheerfully absurd way that makes M. Night Shyamalan ’s movies unique . Notall of M. Night Shyamalan ’s twistswork , but all of them make his movies suffer out in a crowded marketplace . Trap , in contrast , feel like just another horror thriller that any competent manager could have put together .
M. Night Shyamalan’s Previous Movies Had Better Endings Than Trap
M. Night Shyamalan Can Typically Be Relied On For A Wild Ending
It is easy to number how Shyamalan ’s best motion-picture show are stronger thanTrap . The Sixth SenseandUnbreakablefeature two historically slap-up bend endings , but they also sport two of Bruce Willis ’ unspoilt mid - life history operation and a hard support cast . It is more informative to compare Shyamalan ’s less movies toTrapand see how even their twists could have elevated the thriller . 2015 ’s found footage horrorThe Visitis another solitary - location repulsion - adjacent thriller where a syndicate member turns out to be a malign liquidator , and its spin is almost laughable and predictable .
However , The Visitworked for me because the movie refused to admit just how obvious its twirl was . By the time the paladin were spilling stuff on their webcam solely so their female parent handily could n’t see their grandparents , it was pretty blatantly well-defined where the storey was heading . Still , this worked far better thanTraprefusing to offer any surprisal , twisting , or subversion of expectation . Similarly , 2016’sSplitwasn’t perfect , but its twist link up the movie to the larger universe of Shyamalan ’s offer and evidence it was more than a standalone story . In contrast , Trapfelt belittled and inconsequential .
Why Trap’s Ending Didn’t Work For Me
Trap’s Ending Was Exactly What I Expected From The Movie’s Premise
When I saw the first trailer forTrap , I directly knew how the film ’s story would go . Trap ’s scoundrel booster would spend most of the film trying to escape the concert maw before , finally , a draggy third act admit his chase outside the venue . There would n’t be many death since that would be too dark , and the history would enfold up with him caught but not stagnant . Then I saw who was directingTrap , and I was much more excited .
Cooper might have been imagining Jamie altogether , or the FBI might have terminate up catching someone else when he mislead them .
Although the picture ’s rating meantTrap ’s lack of character deathswas still an inevitability , I conceive anything was possible with Shyamalan at the helm . perchance Cooper ’s daughter would wrench out to be his confederate in killing , or maybe he would come after in escaping the FBI and kill his family in a daringly downbeat twist . James Fenimore Cooper might have been opine Jamie completely , or the FBI might have ended up catch someone else when he misled them . Trap ’s directorM. Night Shyamalanmade me desire for a wild conclusion , but the great surprisal finish up being the motion-picture show ’s predictable conclusion .
Trapis currently playing in theater .
