“Smile 2” delves into the behind-the-scenes life of a pop star, but “Trap” did that earlier in the year. The meaning of both: there is a murderer lurking in the audience.
In the case of Trap, the danger is a serial killer in a sea of pre-teen and teenage girls.
Screenwriter/director M. Night Shyamalan sends father and daughter to a Philadelphia arena to see her favorite performer, Taylor-type Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan), who has a never-ending concert with enough options for ticket holders to leave their seats.
There are so many pauses that you wonder if anyone is left in the arena. However, Dad (Josh Hartnett) is looking for a way out (aren’t they all dads?). He talks to the merchant, gets his ID, checks into the employee lounge, and discovers that he has a plan to catch the serial killer called “The Butcher.”
Why a man named “The Butcher” would go to a concert (in the afternoon, no less) is anyone’s guess, but it means fewer men to look for on the way out.
Early on, we get the suspicion that Hartnett’s Cooper might be hiding something. He occasionally makes “V for Vendetta” faces and constantly makes excuses to leave his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) alone.
Of course, there’s a reason Dad came up with an exit strategy.
Hayley Mills appears as an expert who knows how serial killers operate. She advises many people (mostly with her back to the camera), then becomes a player in the last third of the film.
Shyamalan has plenty of holes where this could fall. Riley, for example, gets a chance to take the stage as “The Dream Girl.” But if she wasn’t chosen, Dad’s next moves would have to be rethought.
Likewise, when he gets close to Lady Raven, Cooper becomes one of those vermin every singer should hate. He keeps asking for more and even gets a moment alone with her in her dressing room. We can tell you from experience that this WILL NEVER HAPPEN. No matter who wants a private conversation, there’s always an assistant nearby.
However, this sets up the escape route and leads “Trap” to the family’s home where a lot of things happen as part of “Scream”.
Hartnett doesn’t really fit into the Anthony Perkins mode, but he gets more lines here than in countless other films. He’s good at spinning, but he’s also good at giving the kid goosebumps. When it crosses the line, “Trap” becomes a typical horror film with a pretension “The Sixth Sense”.
That Shyamalan created this original “ah-ha” movie only adds to the disappointment of this one.
Maintains its tension for a good hour and then becomes like a concert with too much “new” music: Bring the hits, not the potential misses.
Of note: Saleka Shyamalan wrote the songs she’s singing and could get one on the charts if the producers push her hard enough. She gives us an idea of what a Taylor singer should be and isn’t afraid to reach out and touch her, even if that touch is deadly.
Movies in a Minute with film critic Bruce Miller
Movies in a Minute: Smile 2
Movies a Minute: “Saturday Night”
Movies per minute: “Joker: Folie `a Deux”
Movies in a minute: Megalopolis
Movies per minute: “Transformers 1”
Movies in a Minute: Speak No Evil
Movies a minute: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”
Movies in a Minute: “Reagan”
Movies in a Minute: Blink Twice
Alien: Romulus Movies for a Minute
Movies in a Minute: It’s Over With Us
Movies in a Minute: “Trap”
Movies in Minutes: “Deadpool & Wolverine”
Movies in a Minute: “Twisters”
Movies per minute “Maxxxine”
Cursed Me 4 Minute Movies
Movies in a Minute A Quiet Place: Day One
Movies in a Minute: “Thelma”
Movies in a Minute: Inside Out 2
Bad Boys: Ride or Die Movies a Minute
Movies in a Minute: Jim Henson Idea Man
Movies in a Minute: “Summer Camp”
Movies in a Minute: The Blue Angels
Movies in Minutes: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Movies in a minute: “The Fall Guy”
Movies per minute: “Challengers”
Movies in a minute: “Abigail”
Movies in a Minute: “Civil War”
Movies in a Minute: The Monkey Man
Movies a Minute: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’
Movies a Minute: Late Night with the Devil
Movies in a Minute: “Snack Shack”
Movies per minute: “Cabrini”
Dune: Part Two Movies a Minute
Movies in a Minute: “Drive-Away Dolls”
Movies per minute “Bob Marley: One Love”
Movies in a Minute: “Lisa Frankenstein”
Movies in a Minute: ‘Pop’s Greatest Night’
Movies in a Minute: “Poor Women”
Movies in a Minute: Best Actress nominee Sandra Haller
Movies in a Minute: Mean Girls
Movies in a Minute: Everyone But You
Movies in a Minute: The Color Purple
Movies in a Minute: The Iron Claw
Movies in a minute: “Wonka”
Movies per minute: “May December”
Movies in a Minute: “Desire”
Movies in a Minute: “Next Goal Wins”
Movies in a minute: “The Marvels”
Movies in a minute: “The Holdovers”
Movies in a Minute: Five Nights at Freddy’s
Movies in a Minute Taylor Swift: The Tour of the Ages
Movies for a Minute: Killers of the Color Moon
Movies for a Minute: “The Exorcist: Believer”
Movies in a Minute: “Fair Game”
Bruce Miller is editor of the Sioux City Journal.