A loving father takes his teen daughter to her favorite singer’s concert, only to soon realize that the entire concert is a ploy to catch a serial killer. With a man in his basement and his daughter on his arm, Cooper, played by Josh Harnett, must find a way out of the trap that he spent hundreds of dollars for in the name of his sweet daughter, Riley, played by Ariel Donoghue.
“Trap” is one of those movies that is definitely worth the trip to the theaters for. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan and set in Philly, this movie has a sinister hometown vibe. For the greater half of the movie, the audience will find themselves conflicted between the hope that he gets caught for the sake of the greater good and the natural instinct to root for the main character.
M. Night Shyamalan grew up in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania and is proud of it. The majority of his films take place locally and he is even known to be seen at Philly sports games. His daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, stars in “Trap” as Lady Raven, the pop star whose concert was constructed to trap this cold-blooded murderer.
Her character was based off of a Taylor Swift type. Watching this play out in theaters, her cult following, hyper-pop catchy songs, and extravagant performances, it was fairly obvious that Swift was the inspiration for Lady Raven. Saleka Shyamalan even wrote the majority of her character’s music similar to her muse singer-songwriter.
“Trap” admittedly has some rough edges including underdeveloped characters, rushed conclusion, and subpar acting, but the cinematic experience that it creates carries its rating. This is the first live action movie I have seen in theaters in a while that had me leaving satisfied and continuously talking about it.
The confliction of loving the character for his humor, diligence and unconditional love for his daughter versus hating him for leaving her stranded throughout the concert and his blood curdling lack of remorse for his victims is why this movie is so conversation worthy.
A lot of the criticism for “Trap” can be chalked up to the fact that it is PG-13. Does it lean a bit much on the comedy to distract from the fact that it’s not very scary for a horror movie? Yes, of course. All in all, “Trap” gave me hope in the resurgence of movie theater cinema and I think it did a fabulous job staying age appropriate while still keeping the audience engaged.