Trap

Wow!! This was really something. So this is probably the fourth M. Night movie that I’ve seen (and really only the second one I can remember much of), and can I just say? This is my favorite one so far, wow. First of all, the fucking cinematography. So good, I was just so in awe of how creative it was, and how purposeful it was throughout the movie! So many shots just tell a story without explanation, like for example: That scene in the beginning where Cooper goes to the bathroom, and he passes the white wall (representing the innocent, harmless man he is pretending to be) into the red stalls (representing blood, death, and his true nature) to go and check on his hostage. OR that scene where he had just escaped the limo and disguised himself again, with the camera only revealing half of his face, as a callback to when not long before, he told Lady Raven that he chooses the victims that he does because they’re more broken than they seem, and yet he’s broken too, like one half of what should be a whole person. So many good choices. I am in love with the way this movie carries itself. It doesn’t want to trick you by getting a rise out of you, it doesn’t want to seem like it’s smarter than you, it just wants you to watch and listen to how this entire story plays out. Early on, it’s established that Cooper is astonishingly intelligent, and so the fact that he’s able to somehow weave his way in and out of certain situations may shock you, but it immediately makes sense! Especially in the ending, that was very well justified. Like you would think that the movie would end with some stupid loose-end-tying bullshit that makes sure he’s caught for good, but then when the camera zooms into the missing string on the bike….. Like talk about Silence of the Lambs, hello?? Fucking amazing, I could not believe how smart this movie is, and how aware it is of what its audience is thinking. Now, I was hearing all about how Josh Hartnett gave a stunning performance as the main character, and since I haven’t really seen him in much, I didn’t get my hopes up. But holy shit, like. What?! He gave it all, like I could not believe how incredible he was in this role, just so many great choices in his performance, so menacing, and just really carried this movie on his back like it was what he was always meant to do. Just fantastic. Something to mention actually is part of the reason why many many people don’t really like M. Night’s movies. It’s the dialogue. And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely have hated it all this time as well. Sometimes you’ll have characters starting a conversation with one another, but then it starts getting into certain lines and inflections that don’t really make sense, and make the tone of the scene seem more off than it’s supposed to. Characters might say things like “It is going to be alright” with a neutral tone when their character background (especially for ones that are obviously native English speakers) might have it make more sense for them to say a more casual sentence that is shortened to be like “It’s gonna be okay” with a tone of reassurance and care. Things like that bother me for sure.  But. In this movie, even though we see these weird writing choices spring up in the lines of supporting characters, when they spring up in Cooper’s lines… they just make sense. Of course his speech patterns would be off, he’s trying to conceal who he really is. He makes an extra effort to talk too proper, or make weird choices with the words he’s saying that make him sound more confused than he’s supposed to. But he’s acutely aware of these mistakes while also subconsciously being like this anyways, and uses his unique speech patterns to his advantage to seem weaker to anyone who may suspect him of anything. Even though I’m not 100% sure this was a conscious choice in every scene, I still really appreciated it for the first time while watching an M. Night movie. Really really interesting. ANYWAYS though, Josh Hartnett is amazing in this, and y’know. Since I’m a proper lady, I shall not compliment him any further, because what I intend to type into this review will not be family-friendly if I continue… …Moving on though, every other acting performance was really really great, even from the child actors! Also Saleka Shyamalan especially was definitely one of the standouts in this. Very talented in both singing and acting, and I hope to see her in other things!  Take notes nepo babies! Also yea: The music!! Really really great that this movie executed the storyline of a fictional pop star so well, it was shocking how realistic and modern this take was, like yes Lady Raven would be this popular in the real world! The actual stage performance, the songs and their lyrics, like many many movies have to take notes from this film, just so surprisingly well done. Overall, I really really loved this. This was a real good thriller, the tone was consistent throughout, every character added so much to this story, every scene was necessary and thought through, and it’s just really refreshing to be able to watch a movie where you have so much to say about it because it’s good, and not because it’s some mediocre mess, which is an unfortunate commonality in this particular genre of film. All in all, So awesome, I would absolutely recommend. ………. JOSH HARTNETT PLEASE JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE, ILL DO ANYTHIGN PLEAS-