Teenager Riley Adams (played by Ariel Donoghue) is going through a rough time with friends at school and, to cheer her up, her dad Cooper (Josh Hartnett) buys floor seats to see Riley’s favorite artist in concert. When they arrive, Cooper starts to notice an abnormally large police presence and it’s slowly revealed that they’re there for him. Cooper has been moonlighting as The Butcher, a serial killer in the Philadelphia area. As the walls around him start to cave in, he continues to find ways to avoid attention, even going so far as getting his daughter chosen to come on stage as a special fan. He finds a desperate way out of the arena but drags Lady Maven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) into his game and that’s when the walls truly cave in.
Hartnett is stellar as a mentally troubled, borderline-schizophrenic father who simultaneously wants to give his daughter the best life while also satisfying his urges to control people. He conveys a serious cringe factor even when smiling and, because he’s in the dad role, the audience isn’t quite sure how or when he’ll be discovered. In addition, Donoghue is impressive, believable from scene one and you genuinely feel her loss when her dad’s secret is revealed to her.
But then the performances kind of fall apart.
Saleka is in her element playing the pop star role but she’s given a lot of chances to shine acting-wise in this film too. Unfortunately, she comes across as an actress looking for her big break, not announcing her arrival. Most of her dialogue feels forced and her close up reaction shots aren’t memorable either. Matter of fact, the bathroom scene is the only part that impresses. She delivers her lines flawlessly and conveys all the conflicting emotions the moment calls for. It’s too bad she waited that long to present that level of talent to the audience as they’ve already judged her by that point.
TRAP is as split personality as the lead character. The things that are good are really good but the things that bad are really bad. All that said, it’s a psychological thriller that invites a rewatchability factor that KNOCK AT THE CABIN and SIGNS lacked and fits nicely into the upper half of M. Night Shyamalan’s catalog.
JKG SCORE: 6.0
Untitled Film Project 