'Trap' movie review: Yet another miss from ‘Night’s’ factory

Still from Trap

Film: Trap
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, Allison Pill, Ariel Donoghue, Jonathan Langdon
Director: Manoj Night Shyamalan
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 105 min

Manoj Night Shyamalan's most recent forays into the paranormal thriller with the typical patented twisty endgame have had poor pay-offs. Shyamalan's films have of late been misses and the expectations from this one was also quite tepid. ‘Trap' his latest in a string of movies aiming for Hitchcockian thrills, is pleasant to look at but the arsenal feels unloaded.

The concept is interesting enough. The set-up inspired by Operation Flagship, a sting operation in which disguised law enforcement captured fugitives under the pretense of gifting them free NFL tickets. Shyamalan turns the NFL match idea into a music concert to set-up a fairly original construct where a father and his teen daughter attend.

Cooper (Josh Hartnett), a local firefighter and a doting father of two, takes his teen daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a stadium concert in Philadelphia where Pop Star Lady Raven, is performing. At the concert he notices an unusually large police force in attendance and when he inquires about the reason, he gets the response that the police are using the concert as a trap for a vicious serial killer called The Butcher ( a character similar to Hannibal Lecter but not as chilling).

The film begins well-enough but as it progresses further into regular catch-the-serial-killer kitsch, it starts to flag. The dialogue is banal and the performances don't really have the craft to be gravitating. There's not much of a back story here. Just the set-up and what transpires thereafter. Unrealistic situations, delusional responses add more woes to the many holes in the story. The minor twists don't make sense either…allowing the pace to drag and the momentum to slip.

Shyamalan's daughter Saleka plays Lady Raven and that nepotistic choice takes center-stage all through the first half where the concert plays on as a showcase for her music. The R&B pop singer Saleka Night Shyamalan, apparently produced, wrote, and performed the original songs featured in this film. The second half, offers some genuine thrills and suspense, but the scares don't even register.

Josh Harnett, appearing as the main lead after a long hiatus, does well to stay in character. The narrative is visually enticing, the tech credits are appreciable and the shot-taking allows for some depth to creep in. Shyamalan continues to exhibit a sharp eye for detail even when his skills as a thriller story teller appear to be on the wane. Overall,the narrative fails to work up enough steam to mandate this film as a breathtaking edgy thriller.