Movie Review: Trap

It pains me to say this about an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but I found one I didn’t like.

We’ve joked on the show that I should be the captain of the “Give M. Night Movies A Try” fan club because the critics are usually so harsh and while I haven’t seen all of his movies, the ones that I have watched are good! They have interesting plots and usually a twist at the end that I really haved enjoyed.

I liked The Village (2004), The Visit (2015), and Old (2021). I absolutely loved Split (2016), The Sixth Sense (1999), and Devil (2010).

So when I streamed the movie Trap (2024) over the weekend, I went into it wanting to like it. And it was a struggle. I like Josh Harnett (the main character) and I hadn’t seen him in a lot of things recently so I was excited to see him again.

In Trap, we’re supposed to believe he’s a serial killer being set up by a sting operation to catch him at a pop star concert he’s attending with his daughter. So while it seemed like the acting was hokey and the plot was kinda lame, I kept watching and waiting for the big twist ending that makes it all worth it because it has to be there, right? It’s M. Night, after all.

Well, to save you a little over and hour and a half, the twist never comes. The suspenseful scenes aren’t suspenseful at all and the ending sets up a potential sequel that I hope they reconsider making.

It was just really disappointing. If it were a goofy Lifetime made-for-TV suspense movie, I would have been a little more lenient in my review because I would have expected something like Trap going in.

Bummer. And I can hear it now: “See, that’s what you get being excited for an M. Night Shyamalan movie!”

But I’m going to cut him some slack and just think this is the one that got away. I’m still going to keep his other movies on my list to see like: Knock at the Cabin Door (2023), The Watchers (2024), Caddo Lake (2024), and the upcoming movie Remain (2026)…
Unless you know something I don’t know about these movies. Let me know if you happened to see them and your own reviews.

Email anytime, Laura would love to hear from you: Laura.McKenna@civicmedia.us
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