Trap

Man, the Toledo Rockets really crapped the bed in the second half. The best thing that can happen to UT is for some bigger school to get desperate and hire him away because I can't see UT firing him. I'm worried that the shine is off him right now, and it will be more of #1 MAC recruiting classes, 8 wins and several mind-blowing losses. Oh well, at least Notre Dame won and James Franklin James Franklined all over the place again. Yeah, it was an up-and-down day for college football in the Mr. Pat household!

Trap (2024)

In the late 90s and early 2000s, if I had to guess who was going to be the next big megastar, without hesitation, I would have said Josh Hartnett. He hit the ground running with Halloween H20, followed that up with The Faculty, and then starred in Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down. Later in the 2000s, he had a small role in Sin City and starred in the underappreciated Lucky Number Slevin, but that was it. He kind of dropped out of the mainstream, and I had often wondered what happened to him. Apparently, he disappeared for a good reason; he decided to step back and work on getting a better home life balance, prioritizing his well-being and family instead of superstardom. Good for him. I have never seen Pearl Harbor, so I can honestly say I've liked everything I've seen him in.

We start with Cooper (Hartnett) teasing his young daughter as they rush to get to a concert by Lady Raven. Think of her as this universe's Taylor Swift. He's your typical goofy, loving dad as he tries to rile up and calm his teenage daughter, who can barely contain her excitement over the concert. Their interactions are fun and wholesome, and what every dad hopes to get from their kids. You can tell that he's super excited that she's super excited, and their interactions are fun and sweet.

Everything's going really well, they get their seats, and the entire arena is buzzing with anticipation. While going to get some merch, Cooper notices there is a lot of security. Armed guards are everywhere, and he sees police setting up cameras. Cooper then strikes up a conversation with a worker at the merchandise stand, who tells him this entire concert is a trap. Police know a serial killer called "The Butcher" is there tonight, so they've effectively sealed off the arena from the outside and look to finally catch him and stop the killings.

The movie gave hints, but now it's obvious that Cooper is that serial killer, and he realizes his situation is a lot more dire than he originally thought. The rest of the movie plays out like a chess match because Cooper and the FBI profiler tasked with taking him down. They make a move, and then he makes a move, each other trying to stay a step ahead of the other until either they catch him or he escapes.

A lot of people rag on M. Night Shyamalan, and I get it, but I think it's not because of his talent as a filmmaker. I just think it's been going for so long that it's become normalized; ripping on him is part of the joke now, even if it's undeserved. I haven't seen Old yet, but I say that when it comes to quality, the good vastly outweighs the bad. Even in his bad movies, the premise is really good, and they have a lot of cool ideas. There is something in each movie that makes it stand out and be worth watching, except for The Happening, which sucked. I saw it for free and still felt ripped off.

This movie is very cool. Every second he was in that concert, I was enthralled. The way he moves about the crowd and looks for ways out as the walls slowly close in on him is so good. I don't think it's so much the writing, which is pretty good; instead, it's all Hartnett, he is great in this. The entire time he realizes what's going on, he is a half-breath away from losing it. It's so much fun watching him squirm; he has such an off-putting smile while trying to be disarming. It's like he learned how to smile by watching a child explain how they work. You can tell from watching him that he doesn't feel emotions, and being scared and trapped is completely alien to him; and he's just barely keeping it together.

At one point, he manages to steal a police radio so he can hear how the operation is going and how they're closing in. He's listening to the profiler as he's about to pull the fire alarm, and right as he's about to pull it, she mentions that's what he's about to do next. It is so fascinating watching the cat and mouse game and seeing the steps he's willing to take and innocent people he's ready to hurt to escape, all the while making sure his daughter is enjoying herself.

While I was thoroughly entertained during this bit, there were things I didn't care for. Outside of running into an annoying mother who won't leave him alone, things keep going right for Cooper. Granted, they don't get him outside, but at multiple points, people just volunteer privileged information to him. It does lead to a funny post-credit sequence, but it's too easy. He doesn't have to work because things just fall into his lap. Also, the way he's able to do obvious things right out in the open can take you out of the moment. At a few points, I thought they were giving him this information because they were setting up a trap, but no, people were charmed by his awkward and creepy smiles, and were practically falling over themselves to talk to him, apparently.

Too often, things just go right for him with minimal effort. He's like Michael Myers in a way, where he doesn't have to work; people do a lot of the work for him. Another nit I had with the movie is that it's less intriguing once he gets out of the arena. It's still cool, and the hunt continues, but it loses what makes it unique. Hartnett trapped inside a fixed space, listening to the police get closer, is so good. But once he gets outside, I've seen this movie before, and it definitely loses steam.

This whole movie falls apart without Hartnett, though. He is awesome in this. I love that through little ticks or quarks, you can see he's just barely holding it together. You see throughout the movie how ruthless he can be, but when the jig is finally up and he can be his real self, he's just phenomenal. Not only that, he's genuinely scary. He's so calm and collected and matter-of-fact about what he has planned. It's chilling the way he talks when he drops all pretenses of what he is.

I also loved the father/daughter aspect. I reviewed the movie Hellfest a few years ago, and it was just OK. But what got me was the very end, when we see the killer, who spent the last 90 minutes brutally murdering people, had a family that he loved and cared for. In this one, we see it play out the entire time, and it's not just a reveal. I don't think Cooper can feel actual love, but you can see it's as close as it can be with his daughter. He's conflicted because he wants to escape, but he doesn't want to leave her or for her to find out what he is. From what we see of him, she seems to be the only person he cares about.

It's a great premise, with a fantastic leading performance, and it is very entertaining. It's fun but flawed. Still, much like Shamalyan's work, the good far outweighs the bad.

8.5 Dr. Chainsaws!