Its without doubt, M. Night Shyamalan’s most silliest movie……

With a trailer threatening a really good romp and M. Night’s promise of a “What if The Silence of the Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?” concept that intrigues with the added bonus of Josh Hartnett back in a leading role, TRAP offers so much, yet barely registers on the excitement level. You’ll never be bored watching, but you won’t be holding onto to your armchair either in sheer adrenaline.

Anyone hoping for yet another rug-pull from Shyamalan will be massively disappointed as the “big twist” in the trailer is exactly that, there is no misdirection, no deft touch in the script, the story is exactly how we thought, Dad Cooper (Hartnett) takes his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see her favourite pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) but while there he spots a mass amount of police and thanks to an over sharing worker he discovers the whole concept is a trap for the FBI to capture the serial killer known as The Butcher, which of course, MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT…..is Cooper himself.

Cue- a lot of cat and mouse shenanigans, all held together by Harnett who gleefully chews up every scene, marvelling at the prospect of being centre-stage again, pushing the antihero element towards the audience as he tries desperately to avoid capture. No doubt you’ll find yourself sniggering at the convenient plot vices that aide Cooper throughout and mostly to keep the plot moving from A to B and while there is some fun to be had, like Cooper pushing a girl down the staircase as a distraction, the absurdity of the whole thing, Riley ending up on stage, the meeting in Raven’s dressing room, it all becomes rather daft very, very quickly.

The one thing you can say about the career of Shyamalan is nearly all of his films generate some kind of discussion, with the likes of the very divisive The Village still being talked about today, but for the first time on his CV, TRAP becomes the film that will largely be forgotten, long after the final credits roll.

The cynic in you will feel that this film only exists to promote the fledging pop career of his daughter who appears through out and while a lot of effort went into the music aspect, you just wish a bit more went into offering some thrills and spills and some genuine tension as while Lady Raven sings “Save Me” to her mass teenage audience, you wonder if that’s directed to Cooper or for us watching the tiresome script.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆