Trap

Verdict

A slick, high-concept thriller with a knowingly goofy streak, Trap is more interesting as a premise and performance piece than as a tightly engineered suspense machine. If you enjoy M. Night Shyamalan’s mix of tension, absurdity, and twisty contrivance, it’s an easy watch; if you need airtight logic, it will likely frustrate you.

Best for

• fans of high-concept thrillers
• viewers who like darkly comic suspense
• M. Night Shyamalan completists
• audiences open to campy, self-aware genre play

Skip if

• you want realistic police procedure
• plot holes pull you out of movies
• you dislike tonal whiplash
• you want a straight horror film

Overview

Trap is built on a deliciously ridiculous premise and mostly survives on the energy of that idea. The concert setting gives it a fresh visual engine, and Josh Hartnett leans into the role with a performance that keeps the movie hovering between menace and comedy. That tension is the film’s biggest asset: it wants to be a thriller, but it often plays like a dark farce about how badly everyone in the room is reading the situation.

Worth noting

The movie’s pleasures are less about suspense mechanics than about watching Shyamalan push a single concept as far as it will go. Some scenes are genuinely tense, but plenty depend on implausible behavior, overexplained plotting, and a willingness to accept that the film is operating on its own eccentric logic. For some viewers, that’s the fun; for others, it’s the point where the spell breaks.

Bottom line

If you approach it as a sleek genre toy with a mischievous streak, Trap is entertaining enough to recommend. If you want a disciplined cat-and-mouse thriller, it’s more likely to feel like a clever setup in search of a sturdier payoff.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Zoe (3.5★) · 30076 likes

this is gonna ruin the tour.

Karsten (4★) · 26899 likes

you gotta wonder if m night shyamalan has ever had a conversation with a human being

ram<3 (3.5★) · 20341 likes

american psycho (taylor’s version)

Reece (4★) · 19346 likes

before the movie, M Night came out on stage and shared that he came up with this ENTIRE movie solely to give his singer daughter her very own concert film. he then proceeded to spend 30 minutes individually thanking a multitude of crew members by name, the entire cast AND supporting cast (even actors with legit 2 lines), and told all aspiring filmmakers in the crowd to follow their dreams. M NIGHT. THE MAN YOU ARE. (and yes, the movie is thrilling but mostly so silly and fun, see it with friends and get ice cream after)

justinwuah (5★) · 17165 likes

the actual trap was sitting through this entire movie

Themes

serial killer, concert setting, father-daughter relationship, identity and concealment, surveillance, performance and persona, dark comedy, cat-and-mouse thriller

Topics

thriller, crime, horror, dark comedy, psychological tension, concert setting, serial killer, cat-and-mouse, camp, 2020s