Trap (2024)

	Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan	COUNTRY United Kingdom GENRE Psychological thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Trap RUNNING TIME 105 minutes
	Produced by: Ashwin Rajan Marc Bienstock M. Night Shyamalan
	Written by: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Cooper	Josh Hartnett
Riley	Ariel Donoghue	½
Lady Raven	Saleka Night Shyamalan
Rachel	Alison Pill
Dr. Josephine Grant	Hayley Mills	-
Jamie	Jonathan Langdon	-
Spencer	Mark Bacolcol	-
Jody's mom	Marnie McPhail-Diamond	-

Review

M. Night Shyamalan’s creativity is yet again in full flow in this clever, exhilarating thriller about a loving father (Josh Hartnett) and his 12-year-old daughter (Ariel Donoghue) who attend a concert with the girl's favourite pop star, Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan). Unbeknownst to them, the FBI is using the concert as a trap to catch a serial killer known as The Butcher. Shyamalan is an expert at setting the stage for his often ingenious premises, and Trap is up there with his best entries in this respect. As we become aware of Hartnett's plight, the director fires on all cylinders and creates an atmosphere that will immerse even today's attention-span-impeded audiences. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game filled with conflicting perspectives and considerations – plus some novel Shyamalanesque ideas. To get full enjoyment out of Trap over the entire course of its running time, you may have to turn a blind eye to a couple of illogicalities, but this is a skill any seasoned Shyamalan viewer will already have perfected. Hartnett is great fun in the lead. I suspect we will see more of him in the near future.