603: Trap

[00:00:00] Hello everybody, welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is episode number 603, and my name is Henry. This time I'm going to be tackling the 2024 film Trap, which is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, stars Josh Hartnett, Salika Shyamalan, his daughter, Ariel Donahue, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Jonathan Langdon, and the synopsis is, a father and his teen daughter attend a pop concert only

[00:00:29] to realize they've entered the center of a dark and sinister event. Just in case you haven't noticed, I have released a handful of episodes this week. I'm not doing that every week from now on, I just had some extra time wanting to get some more content out, hope that's okay, have been reorganizing things a little bit. I didn't see Trap until maybe a year after it came out, and I've seen it two times

[00:00:54] total, I believe. I've always liked M. Night Shyamalan, whether you like him or not, he is very much an auteur director, he has a very distinctive style. He is, however, on the downside, one of the most inconsistent directors out there in terms of A-list, very successful directors. He will have really high highs, like I think Split is still his best film or Signs, but then he'll have

[00:01:22] super low lows like Last Airbender, After Earth, The Happening. But even with that being said, I really appreciate him because he always, pretty much always tells original stories. You know, he's not just adapting a lot of previous IPs or making a bunch of cinematic universe films that don't have any kind of stamp. As with a lot of his films, I heard mixed things about it. I thought

[00:01:46] the concept was very interesting, and spoilers here, it is a couple years old, but just in case you haven't seen it, it is about this father who we come to find out is a serial killer who is being hunted by the police, and in very ridiculous, typical M. Night Shyamalan fashion, the idea is this whole concert is being organized to capture this guy. They're aware that he's going to be attending

[00:02:13] it with his daughter, and they're trying to figure out who he is because they still don't know what he looks like exactly. So there's a ton of cops, everybody is keeping an eye out, and therefore Josh Hartnett is having to really play it cool. Similar to what I was talking about with Taron Egerton in Apex, Josh Hartnett plays this character so well. Like, he really can embody that doofy,

[00:02:38] fun dad who seems oblivious and is nerdy and just embarrasses his daughter, and then instantaneously he can turn into the dangerous, violent killer that he is. I've always liked Josh Hartnett. I think the first thing I saw him in was Pearl Harbor and then Sin City, but I followed his work at least a good bit over the years. And I guess I haven't said exactly. I do like this movie a good bit at this

[00:03:01] point, despite the flaws. In terms of the Shyamalan-isms, so to speak, his writing in all of his films, not just this one, but his dialogue, the way characters act, is just so strange and offbeat at times. His humor is super weird, and I guess that in a way makes it memorable because it's so out there. Like, it's not anything that you come across that often. But for the most part in this

[00:03:26] case, it works. And everything at the concert is, I think, really, really solid. It's self-contained. You know, there's that trapped feeling of him trying to find a way out. All the exits are taken. Him tricking people. Him trying to be friendly with some of the concert employees. Causing accidents to try and get away. The singer who is performing is Shyamalan's daughter. And the concert staging

[00:03:54] itself is really good. It's fun to watch. It's good music. Later on, he is able to meet the singer with his daughter. And then, for me, that's where it starts to fall apart. The moment they leave the concert, which, unfortunately, the concert is only about 60% of the film. Once they leave the concert, it really drops off in terms of any sort of believability, reality. So much so that it's

[00:04:22] hard to take anything seriously. Like, the stuff that he's able to finesse and get away with, where he's able to show up, get out of handcuffs, whatever it might be. That's where it gets into the bad part of M. Night Shyamalan, that he just can't really keep it kind of sensible. Because while the stuff at the concert is, you know, there's some disbelief, you know, you have to suspend, it's still cohesive and tight enough to where at least I was not questioning that much. The sequence

[00:04:51] at the singer's house, that was probably the last really strong scene. And she's already aware of who he is at that point. And she's now trying to get away. So it kind of becomes a reverse cat and mouse, as opposed to the first part, which was trying to capture Josh Hartnett. And, you know, at that point and on rewatch, that plays a little bit better now that I know where it's going. But I just wish the concert had been the entire film. A couple other quick things, the sequences with that one

[00:05:20] employee who, I think he steals the ID card and he's able to get into back rooms and he ends up even talking to different police officers just as a normal guy wondering what's going on. Light four out of five.