Spoiler alert: This article contains complete spoilers for the movie “Trap”, which is currently showing in theaters.
It's hard not to love M. Night Shyamalan.
He's a unique filmmaker who's never afraid to take big bold steps, and he's back in theaters with “Trap,” a new film about a serial killer starring Josh Hartnett — with plenty of twists and turns.
The film opens with doting father Cooper (Hartnett) taking his daughter Riley (Arielle Donoghue) to a concert by the famous singer Lady Raven (Salika Shyamalan). Cooper immediately notices the increased presence of armed security personnel at the concert. After chatting with friendly T-shirt salesman Jimmy (Jonathan Langdon), he discovers that the entire show is a trap to catch a serial killer known as the Butcher. Cooper is revealed to be the Butcher himself, specifically checking the security camera footage on his phone of his latest captive victim, Spencer (Mark Bacolcol).
During the concert, Cooper sneaks away from Riley several times to try to find a way out, causing distractions such as an explosion at a food vendor to give him a chance to escape. Finding no way out, Cooper meets with Raven's uncle (a brief director's appearance), and urges him to let Riley go on stage during a special tribute to fans during the concert.
Once backstage, Cooper realizes there is still no clear way out, so he tells Raven that he is the butcher and threatens to kill Spencer if he and Riley don't sneak out of the venue in her limo. Raven decides to play the hero and offers to drive the father and daughter home. When they all arrive, Raven offers to go inside to meet the rest of the family, including mother Rachel (Alison Pill) and their son. Cooper is forced to act normal in front of his family until Raven steals his phone, locks herself in the bathroom, and starts a live stream with her fans so they can locate and rescue Spencer.
Her fans manage to free Spencer, but Raven is captured by Cooper, who has locked his family in a bedroom. However, they manage to escape and stand in front of Cooper's car as he tries to leave with the singer, causing him to stop and reflect on how both sides of his personality have unfortunately met.
From there, the police arrive at the family's home – however, Cooper dons a SWAT uniform and escapes to a neighbor's house through a secret tunnel. Amid the commotion, he manages to get into the driver's seat of Raven's limousine and finds herself trapped once again with the Butcher. After a tense drive, Raven manages to slip out of her restraints and leave the car in the middle of a dense crowd. Unfortunately, Cooper changes into civilian clothes and also leaves, heading home.
Upon arriving home, Rachel agrees to talk to Cooper, revealing that she tipped off the police that he would be attending the party. An enraged Cooper realizes that Rachel has drugged him with her evil drugs, and the police storm the house again, tasing and arresting Cooper. As he bids his family farewell, he quickly sneaks out with a bar from Riley's bike, which he happily uses to unlock the handcuffs in the back of the paddy wagon. The End!
In a funny scene midway through the film, Jimmy is shown watching TV and discovers, to his great shock, that Cooper is the butcher and has inadvertently helped him escape.
Although there are a lot of very “Trap” is full of good moments, and it certainly has enough twists and turns to keep the audience engaged. And who knows: There might be a “Butcher” sequel in the future…
