Premise has never been a standout issue for M. Night Shyamalan as a filmmaker. I’d go as far as to say that I would probably be a much bigger fan of his work if his filmography entirely consisted of “Story By” credits.
The guy clearly has a knack for coming up with smart high concept plots – be it a psychologist who councils a boy who can see dead people or vacationers who get stuck on a beach where they start rapidly getting older. It’s unfortunately proper execution that so regularly eludes him, and in that respect, Trap is the latest title to be added to continuously growing pile. Release Date: August 2, 2024 Directed By: M.
Night Shyamalan Written By: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, and Alison Pill Rating: PG-13 for some violent content and brief strong language Runtime: 105 minutes The new movie is Shyamalan at his most Hitchcockian – the writer/director designing a puzzle that a shady protagonist must solve – but where it falls apart is in its inability to do anything inventive with its principal idea. The fun hook of a story like this is meant to have the lead character demonstrate exceptional slyness and creativity as they realistically try and weasel their way out of trouble, but the film fails the clever test and is mostly a bore as a result, and it regularly bends plausibility enough to ruin the stakes.
To the credit of M. Night Shyamalan, he doesn’t pretend that you haven’t seen the trai.