“Trap” 4K UHD Review

 

A father and his teen daughter attend a pop concert only to realize they’ve entered the center of a dark and sinister event. (from IMDB)

 

M. Night Shyamalan has often been considered a modern-day Alfred Hitchcock, but it’s no secret that the quality of his productions are inconsistent. The cream of the crop for M. Night undoubtedly includes titles like Signs and The Sixth Sense, but plenty other titles – like The Last Airbender or After Earth – are considered among the most ridiculous or atrocious. Many of his entries along the way have been met with mixed reactions, including Lady in the Water, Split, Unbreakable, and The Village, but I’ve found most of them to be better than they’re given credit for. While his titles are often creepy – if not entirely disturbing – psychological thrillers, they’re usually kept within the boundaries of the PG-13 rating (with the exceptions being The Happening and 2023’s Knock at the Cabin, which were both rated R). So, following his last PG-13 directorial outing, Old, M. Night returns with the PG-13 rated Trap.

The premise for Trap is certainly an interesting one, and while the reveal of who the serial killer is is revealed very early into the movie, the trailer was quick to give it away without hesitation. So, with it being relatively common knowledge now as to who the story’s villain is, I will be talking about it openly from here on out. If you want to go into the movie blind, maybe skip this review altogether.

Being a seasoned concertgoer myself, the concept of a concert in an arena being used as a trap to catch a serial killer is an intriguing idea. The film has been largely criticized for not only being unrealistic in how people act or talk, but unrealistic in how events play out. While I can definitely see this to be problematic, it actually didn’t ruin the experience much for me. (When, in other films, it certainly has.) The story centers on Josh Hartnett’s Cooper, a blue collar kind of guy who is treating his daughter, Riley, to a concert of her favorite artist, Lady Raven – who is played by M. Night’s real-life daughter, Saleka Shyamalan. It starts out as a cute little father/daughter outing, where Cooper seems to just be focused on rewarding his daughter for achieving good grades in school, and aspects of the event begin to feel like any real experience at an arena show. But, Cooper just can’t help himself, and he excuses himself to go to the bathroom where he pulls out his cellphone to view a video of a helpless victim who is chained to a pole in an undisclosed basement. We – as well as Cooper – soon learn that the security at the event is abnormally over-the-top because the entire event is being set up in order to catch a serial killer named The Butcher. A serial killer that is also none other than… Cooper. Josh Hartnett is actually fantastic in the role, playing this oddly likeable normal kinda guy who has a violent and disgusting alter ego. Cooper soon enters fight-or-flight mode to try to find a way of escape from the venue, and we see Hartnett juggle a down-to-earth father figure and a completely unhinged psychopath expertly.

I’ve never seen Hartnett as a creepy guy. Granted, I admittedly haven’t seen too many of his films, with maybe the last one being Hollywood Homicide (with Harrison Ford)? But I just have never seen the guy as a creep. Trap will change that entirely for viewers. I wrestled with the fact that I was finding myself hoping Cooper can escape, yet horrified by the things he’d allegedly done. It was hard to believe this guy could be a brutal murderer, but Hartnett gives glimpses of his alter ego throughout his increasing panic to get out of the stadium. By the time we see him for the monster he really is, the rooting for him ceases, but I still found it a bit icky to be hoping he’d get away and out of the arena.

I can see how viewers and critics would call the movie far-fetched. From the exposition-spewing overtly friendly t-shirt vendor guy, to the plan that works-too-perfectly to get close to the show’s headliner later in the film, to pretty much everything that unfolds in the third act, you really have to suspend disbelief to enjoy the movie. That last act also includes some of the most disturbing of the content in the film, and it kind of devolves into a more traditional psycho-murderer horror flick. Thankfully, for people like this reviewer who can’t stomach graphic violence, there’s very little that is shown in the movie, and it allows the film to fall in line with most of M. Night’s other PG-13 films.

Another major criticism the movie has been receiving is the performance of M. Night’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan. She sort of delivers that wooden kind of performance you’ve come to expect from an M. Night movie, but, to be fair, she does tend to downplay the expected emotion for her role. (She isn’t going to win any awards for this role, let’s just say that. …Unless it’s a Razzie.) Still, blaringly obvious nepotism aside, Saleka hardly sinks the ship either. Her performances on stage, while not exactly up to the scale or quality of the huge stars currently packing houses in today’s music scene, work for the film, even if it feels like a blatant commercial for Saleka’s own music. (For example, no one buys tickets to an M. Night movie and expects to see a pop concert, but he tends to show much too much of the performances regardless.) So many things happen with the concert’s superstar that don’t feel realistic at all – including how she is handled by security and such. It borders on absolutely silly, but I decided to roll with it anyway to see where Shyamalan was going with it.

The content is pretty intense despite being seldom graphic in nature. Aside from hearing violent descriptions of some of the things that The Butcher reportedly did, we do see a photograph of a snowy field with several white tarps covering various remnants of a particular murder scene. When noticing a hand sticking out from under one of the tarps, it becomes evident that each tarp is covering the pieces of a mutilated human body. Later, a woman is burned by hot oil from a deep fryer and we briefly see her red, scarred and burned face and hands as a result. Finally, later in the film, a man tackles another man who is in tactical gear and digs both of his thumbs into the victim’s eye sockets as he screams in pain. Considering how brutal the subject matter involving the killer is, it’s surprising that M. Night doesn’t get more visually graphic or grotesque, but the thematic material is still pretty disturbing. He delves a little bit into the pysche and psychology behind what could make a man become a serial killer, and that is certainly a mix of interesting and disturbing. However, it’s kept relatively simple and surface, without it digging down very far (unlike one of his other movies like, say, Split). Hartnett delivers such an intriguing performance, though – in spite of how ridiculous some of the events of the movie might be – and it’s his presence that makes the movie worth a watch. Aside from all that, there is some profanity in the movie, albeit infrequent. Cooper uses the “F” word unexpectedly in one scene when trying to intimidate someone, while there are a couple uses of the “S” word and a whole lot of uses of “Oh my G-d” – mostly from fangirls at the concert.

Even at their best, M. Night Shyamalan movies are an acquired taste. Where does Trap fall in his directorial filmography? Probably somewhere around the middle or at least the “bottom” of the middle, but it’s got a few things about it – like Hartnett’s performance – that make it more engrossing to watch. (I must say, though, despite the fact that it’s under 2 hours long, it feels too long at times, and as if the movie could have ended a couple times before it finally does.) Regardless of how rough the visual content gets on just a couple occasions, it’s a wholly disturbing premise that makes the villain the protagonist, which is an unusual – or at least uncommon – concept. If you’re into M. Night movies already, Trap is par for the course. But if you like to avoid psychological thrillers or dismal movies that, well, make the killer the central character, you’re going to want to avoid falling into this Trap.

(Oh, if you do see the movie, stick around for a semi-mid-credit scene that revisits a side character from the movie in a pretty comical way, ending the intense movie on a surprisingly lighter note.)

– John DiBiase (reviewed: 8/19/24)

 

 

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Trap, is now available on disc to own, as well as through the usual digital providers. The 4K disc release includes only a 4K disc (no Blu-Ray), but also offers a 4K MoviesAnywhere digital copy. Here’s a look at the 4K UHD disc transfer and the bonus features that come along with it…

Trap in 4K UHD – 4K transfers are not all alike. While Trap certainly looks good in 4K, I don’t think it looked any better than your usual HD Blu-Ray transfer. Maybe in a few long shots, details in the background are a little crisper than traditional HD, but for the most part, the picture has a bit of graininess to it that seems to hinder its clarity a little. The color is pretty solid, but the movie itself isn’t inherently colorful, so I wouldn’t expect that to exactly pop. Overall, you obviously can’t go wrong with 4K, but I don’t think you’d be missing out on much if you settled for a regular Blu-Ray for Trap.

Special Features

Setting the Trap: A New M. Night Shyamalan Experience (4:08) – For a featurette this elaborately titled, I wasn’t expecting the title to feel longer than its total runtime. At just 4 minutes, “Setting the Trap” just barely scratches the surface of Trap. Still, they do pretty well with the limited time here, covering the origin of the film’s concept. M. Night basically wanted to try to bring the genres of music and thriller together, also uniting his daughter’s passions with his own. M. Night shares about his idea for directing the movie and his filmmaking process (like storyboarding every shot out first before even beginning filming). (2 “Oh my G-d”)

Saleka as Lady Raven (5:08) – M. Night and his daughter Saleka talk about the concept of the movie and how Trap was actually inspired by watching Prince’s movie, Purple Rain. The two came up with the idea for Trap together. And Night had his daughter write an album just for the movie and wanted to see if they could merge the movie with a full-blown concert, creating the show as if it were an actual, real touring event.

Deleted Scenes

1. Cooper Gets Stopped by S.W.A.T. (1:02) – A member of S.W.A.T. asks Cooper to remove the Lady Raven wristband to see if he has a tattoo there. When he does remove it, he’s wearing a large bandage underneath. He says he injured himself at work and offers to remove the bandage, but warns it might bleed a lot, and they say it’s OK and he doesn’t have to. It’s an interesting exchange, but Cooper acts ridiculously suspicious the entire time. It makes the S.W.A.T. guy look really, really dumb.
2. Riley Shows Lady Raven Her Room (1:50) – Riley asks to show Raven her room and as Riley rushes upstairs, Cooper warns Raven not to say anything. When Raven gets to Riley’s room, she sees a large mural of photos of herself hanging on the wall. She also asks Riley about her dad, but Riley only gushes about how great her father is.
3. Cooper Takes a Hostage and Slips Away (3:42) – This is actually a pretty interesting scene that probably could have been left in. After he escapes the limo, the FBI spot Cooper on the street. He immediately grabs an innocent bystander, holding her at knifepoint. He then ditches her and dashes into a nearby store, turning off the lights when he gets inside. He then approaches the clerk at the register, bashes his head repeatedly into the register (it’s violent, but not graphic in a bloody way), and then it cuts to the FBI searching the store. When they think they find him, the discover it’s actually the clerk bloodied and strung up by his neck – still alive – posed to be holding a knife in the air. (1 “g*dd*mn,” 1 “pr*ck”)

Extended Concert Scene: Where Did She Go (3:29) – This is actually just a longer version of Raven playing piano and singing with Riley.

– John DiBiase, (reviewed: 11/3/24)

 

 Sex/Nudity: A flamboyant man flirts with Cooper as he passes by him; We see a man remove his shirt and place it on a table and proceed to he shirtless for most of the rest of a sequence.
 Vulgarity/Language: 1 “F” word, 2 “S” words, 21 “Oh my G-d,” 1 “g*dd*mn,” 1 “Oh G-d,” 1 “d*mn,” 1 “h*ll”
 Alcohol/Drugs: There’s talk of using a drug to subdue The Butcher’s victims, and we see it as a powder briefly at one point.
 Blood/Gore: We see a photograph of a snowy field with several white tarps covering various remnants of a murder scene. When noticing a hand sticking out from under one of the tarps, it becomes obvious that each tarp is covering the pieces of a mutilated human body; A woman is burned by hot oil from a fryer and we briefly see her red, scarred and burned face and hands; A man pounces on another man in tactical gear and digs both of his thumbs into the eye sockets of the man on the floor as the victim screams in pain.
 Violence: There’s a lot of talk about a serial killer called The Butcher who cuts up and mutilates his victims; A man pushes a woman down a flight of stairs and people rush to her aid; We see a live feed of a man chained to a pole alone in a room; A fryer explodes in the background of a scene, causing a woman to be badly burned. We then briefly see her being wheeled out on a gurney with oil burns all over her skin; A man threatens to kill someone if another person doesn’t do what he says; A person locks themselves in a room and we hear intense banging, yelling and crashing sounds outside the door; Some cops shoot out a car’s tires and then its driver side window; A man threatens a woman with a meatcleaver; A man is shot with tasers multiple times and falls over; A man pounces on another man in tactical gear and digs both of his thumbs into the eye sockets of the man on the floor as the victim screams in pain.