“Trap” might be M. Night Shyamalan’s least serious film

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In the midst of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, TrapA young girl is chosen to dance on stage with her idol, a singer nicknamed “Lady Raven” (played by the director’s daughter, Saleka). The lucky candidate is understandably nervous, but a stage manager advises her not to think too much. “It’s not about being good,” she advises. “It’s about having fun!”

The line also serves as a guide for viewers, many of whom will have an idea of ​​what to expect from Shyamalan: a horror film with a crucial twist that will chill them (The sixth sense), confuse them (Lady in the water), or make them laugh at the absurdity (The village). But Trapmost often, encourages his audience to laugh with he. Shyamalan presented the story as “if THE Thesilenceofthelambs “It happened at a Taylor Swift concert,” a terrifying premise that also sounds like a twisted joke, something more likely to happen in a Batman comic than in real life. Trap is, as such, more ridiculous than scary, with the story morphing into equally sinister and zany ways – which seems to be the point. The film isn’t meant to be “good”; it wants its viewers to have a blast.

That it works is largely due to Josh Hartnett, an actor who is enjoying something of a career renaissance after his work in last year’s film. Oppenheimer. Here, Hartnett plays Cooper, a father who takes his daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), to a Lady Raven concert, but who also turns out to be—and this is only a surprise if you’ve been avoiding all the trailers—a serial killer known as “The Butcher.” The concert is also an elaborate ruse by the authorities to catch Cooper, who must find a way to escape without arousing suspicion, especially from Riley. Hartnett is a joy to watch Cooper slip between his two personalities from scene to scene, awkwardly bonding with Riley one moment and fooling SWAT teams with his practiced composure the next. As Cooper begins to realize how difficult it will be for him to leave with his daughter in tow, Hartnett injects a touch of nervousness into his every move. His smiles become more forced, his lies more convoluted, his posture stiffer—enough for Riley to notice that something is amiss.

Hartnett’s performance reveals the film’s unusual charm. Trap The film may be absurd, with plot holes, but it is not insane. Shyamalan is able to both unsettle and titillate his audience whenever he keeps the film firmly in Cooper’s perspective. For a serial killer, Trap suggests that everything everyone considers normal is actually unnatural, even hilarious: Cooper seems to delight in dashing between his seat and the rest of the arena, creating distractions that delight him and disturb everyone else, all so he can weave his way through the crowd of spectators and police officers. The dialogue he exchanges with everyone he meets is stilted, with long, strange pauses, as if in Cooper’s mind, ordinary people are too slow to keep up with him. The effect is a strangely funny film, right down to a mid-credits scene played for laughs. Cooper’s absurd forays into forbidden areas and his return to Riley feel like an amplified version of Mrs. Doubtfire restaurant scene, and the plot twists dizzyingly in directions I won’t spoil. I’ll just say that every time the story progressed after reaching what seemed like a narrative dead end, I could practically hear Shyamalan rubbing his hands together, snickering at what he’d done.

Like his other recent films, Trap excerpt from his ridiculous tale of the banal fears of parenthood. Cooper’s psychopathy is rooted in a strained relationship with his mother, but he has managed to be a good father to Riley. At the concert, he is angry because his identity as the Butcher has prevented his daughter from having the fun she desperately needed after being ostracized by her group of friends. Trap The film suggests that while parents understand certain things about their children better than anyone else, they can’t control what happens to them, keep them safe, or prevent them from inadvertently hurting them. This poignant message, despite Shyamalan’s best efforts, feels a bit clumsy as the film progresses. The suspense surrounding Cooper’s capture overshadows all the suspense surrounding Riley’s relationship with her father, which is falling apart.

Shyamalan told my colleague David Sims that he considered the chaos of Lady in the waterone of his biggest box office failures and one of his most critically panned films, is considered a kind of “jazz.” This description could apply to Trap It’s also a messy project, full of out-of-tune, seemingly atonal rhythms that risk alienating viewers hoping for more conventional horror-movie scares. Yet it also constructs a coherent whole, and the film’s particularity is gratifying at this point in the director’s career. At its core, Trap It’s very Shyamalan. Look at it this way: A movie about a serial killer turned out to be ridiculously endearing. What do you think of that as a twist?