Movie Review: The Real Twist to M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap” Is Becoming a Saleka Fan Lady Raven Nation Rise!

For 25 years M. Night Shyamalan’s name has been affiliated with being a horror king, bringing a surprising twist to his stories. It started with “The Sixth Sense” in 1999 and continued with the likes of “The Village” in 2004, and, my fav, “Devil” in 2010. Many think Shyamalan has lost his steam in recent years with “Old” in 2021 and “Knock at the Cabin” in 2023 being lackluster. His latest written and directed film “Trap,” which premiered in theaters August 2, unfortunately follows suit with the underwhelming recent projects, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t entertaining. Spoilers ahead.

“Trap” stars Josh Hartnett as Cooper, a devoted family man, who takes his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) concert. Unbeknownst to Cooper, a tip led to the Lady Raven concert to be a decoy for the FBI and law enforcement profiler Dr. Josephine Grant (Hayley Mills) to arrest the serial killer known as The Butcher before he has the chance to leave the venue. It’s no secret from the trailers that Hartnett was playing the killer so the thrilling experience when watching the movie came from seeing if The Butcher would be able to escape the trap, who else was involved, and if he would get away with his crimes.

Josh Hartnett as Cooper and Ariel Donoghue as Riley in “Trap.” Photo: Warner Bros. Picture

Tension ran high as Cooper used his skills of charm and manipulation to garner information of how close the cops were on bringing him down with much help from friendly venue worker Jamie (Jonathan Langdon), who was hilariously too forthcoming with private and crucial intel. Josh Harnett was one of the main reasons why “Trap” was tolerable. While some of the dialogue was questionable and the logic of many of the characters was astronomically silly, Harnett made the most of the concept delivering an unhinged yet collected performance as a serial killer. His mannerisms as a killer slowly losing control were interesting to watch. I know Shyamalan rarely, if ever, dives into the gory side of horror, but seeing The Butcher in action and not just trying to outsmart the police would have been intriguing to see.

Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven in “Trap.” Photo: Warner Bros. Picture

Another reason, and maybe the biggest reason, why I enjoyed “Trap” was because of Saleka Shyamalan. From the moment one of her songs as Lady Raven played on screen I was sold as a fan. Since the film takes place at her concert, there are a handful of musical moments and there isn’t a song that wasn’t a bop. Every song and performance showed off Saleka’s talent and I couldn’t wait to listen to the soundtrack so I could hear all the original music again. Saleka did up having a bigger role in the film than I anticipated. Her acting skills weren’t on the same level as her singing, but I can give her a break with this being her feature film debut. This is when nepotism is done right. Allison Pill also had a significant role as Cooper’s wife Rachel with Kid Cudi playing an artist named The Thinker in a very small role but got big laughs from my audience from his brief screen time.

(L-R) Alison Pill as Rachel, Ariel Donoghue as Riley, Lochlan Miller as Logan and Josh Hartnett as Cooper in “Trap.” Photo: Warner Bros. Picture

If you’re going into “Trap” thinking you’re about to get some jaw dropping twist, then think again. There are no major revelations, and it dragged at the end, but there is plenty to cackle about when you realize the entire plan the police had from the beginning was flawed, they did things that were truly neglectful and downright asinine. And because Cooper was an unsuspecting, White man under the guise of being this perfect dad and good Samaritan he literally was able to get away with murder.

“Trap” is playing now in theaters.

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Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures