thriller

M. Night Shyamalan Trap’s payoff falls into the mixed bag

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Thriller

Studios: Warner Bros/Blinding Edge Pictures

Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Alison Pill

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Writer: M. Night Shyamalan

Producers: Marc Bienstock, M. Night Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan

Music by: Herdis Stefansdottir

Rated: PG-13 for some violent content and brief strong language

Release Date: 07/24/24

Runtime: 1h 45m

Tagline: 30000 fans. 300 cops. 1 serial killer. No escape.

Favorite Character: Lady Raven

Quote: “This whole concert? It’s a trap. They’re watching all the exits, checking everyone that leaves. There’s no way to get out of here. It’s kinda dope right?”- Vendor

Fun Fact: Many of Lady Raven songs have titles that match the theme to the film (Save Me, Release, Hiding, etc).

The Review: What if ‘Silence of the Lambs’ happened at a Taylor Swift concert? That is the question M. Night Shyamalan asked when pitching for his next film. Sounds like a great concept. But there is one problem. Shyamalan being in charge of the film.

Yes, he is the guy who created the Oscar nominated ‘Sixth Sense’ but don’t forget, he is also the same guy who made the Razzie winning The Last Airbender (has he even seen the show?) So every time Shyamalan release a new film, it is either going to be a hit or a miss, so I did not have high hopes that this would be the next Sixth Sense or Split.

And turns out I was correct.

In Trap, a fun goofy father (strong performance by Josh Hartnett) rewards his daughter (Alice Donoghue) for getting a good report card by taking her to the concert. That star of the show was none other than Lady Raven (played by Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka) who was Taylor Swift in Shyamalan’s world. It actually comes to no surprise that Saleka actually wrote the songs for the film which may have hit the charts in that world but not in real life.

If you did manage to avoid the trailers, a fun goofy father had a double life as a notorious serial killer known as ‘The Butcher’ and when you are a killer at a concert, you will feel alarmed with the police guarding the exits and learning from the merchandise seller (Jonathan Langdon) that the whole concert was set up as a trap. You realize you may be busted, and that is exactly what Cooper feels like.

According to the first trailer, it was deemed as a new M. Night Shyamalan experience. That wasn’t a lie. It was a little over mediocre experience. The whole concert scenes contains a Hitchcock atmosphere and keeping us on our toes. Sounds like a unique experience. It makes you feels like you ARE at the concert. But the fun kinda slows down when the concert ends, which is only before we are at a halfway point of the movie.

As for his signature twist…wait, I’m sorry, what twist? Oh it’s there all right, it was just hidden out of the my sight and not enough to say whoa. It’s like when Shyamalan is writing a story, he seems like focus more on the buildup than the major twist. If you managed to avoid the trailers and try not to think about what the twist could be, you might be lucky enough to get a little shook out of you.

But other than the unnoticeable twist, Trap wasn’t all a bust. Some people may complain about how the story was written but to me, the plot was pretty simple. but well handcrafted that has enough suspenseful moments to be a Hitchcock approved film. Plus, it does come with a chuckle worthy post credit scene.

Self Reliance

~ fewburnedkurnels ~ Leave a comment

Rating: Full

Genre: Comedy, Suspense, Thriller

Studios: Hulu/Neon/MRC

Cast: Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Natalie Morales, Andy Samberg, Mary Holland, Emily Hampshire and Christopher Lloyd

Director: Jake Johnson

Writer: Jake Johnson

Producers: Ali Bell, Joe Hardesty and Jake Johnson

Music by: Dan Romer

Rated: R for language throughout

Release Date: 01/03/24

Runtime: 1h 25m

Tagline: Surviving is all about the company you keep.

Favorite Character: Tommy Walcott

Quote: “This Show is a Comedy”- Charlie

Fun Fact: the bar in the movie ‘La Cita’ means ‘The Meeting’ in spanish.

The Review: I have only heard of Jake Johnson from the Spiderverse films and I don’t watch New Girl so I may not be familiar with him. So, I’m starting to get familiar with him in his directorial debut. I am, however, am familiar with SNL’s Andy Sandberg and it was quite interesting with his comedy band ‘Lonely Island’ producing this film.

Johnson also wrote and starred in the film as a guy named Tommy who is suffering from a bad breakup and goes through the loss by exercising, working and drinking every day. That really doesn’t sound like a fun life at all. That all changes when a mysterious limo came by and who is sitting in the limo is none other than Andy Sandberg, inviting him in the limo for what is about to be a game changing adventure. Sounds a man’s fantasy, it evens feels like it, but it is really happening. If Tommy actually thinks about it, something awesome like this will always have one big catch.

This turns out to be a Dark Web reality show and he will be watched, every move! But if he survives 30 days without being hunted, he will win $1 million, which sounds pretty tempting but deadly. Now the good news is that there is a loophole, the hunters won’t kill him if he is within a few feet of someone, but he will be at risk if he is all alone. Sounds like this dark comedy is really in a social experiment genre.

I wasn’t expecting Johnson told immediately tell his mother and two sisters about the game, I mean we probably would in a same situation. And as we expect, they don’t believe him and assume that he is having mental issues, turning him into a person who the world thinks he’s crazy (but he isn’t). The first five days was no problem for Tommy but after that, the dark web show begins and things are getting tense. So his only option is to have anybody with him 24/7. Anybody. Even if its a homeless man named James. But before that, comes a suspenseful and hysterical moment of the film. Involving his sister’s boyfriend, him taking a crap and Johnson panicking…yeah, you probably might figure out what this is.

You might have heard Pitch Perfect’s Anna Kendrick is in the movie and you might be like, where is she? That’s what I was like, but thankfully, she appears in the movie at the same bar that was part of Tommy’s same old schedule. And as someone who is also participating in the game, so all they had to do way be within each other for the remaining of the game. Sounds easy right? Well, I wouldn’t hold my breath for that one because if you are in a movie, things will always take a radical turn.

I won’t say much about the ending, but by that time, the story really slipped. A very anticlimactic moment that would you will be like…really? That’s it? It also could use more of the humorous moments too, but Self Reliance did manage to teach the audience the same value of life that Tommy learned. It’s a squid game like social experiment that Johnson used to teach the audience and the results are various but entertaining.