Trap (2024) 2.4 of 10 stars ⭐ It's a trap alright…a trap you can't get out of

It's a trap alright…a trap you can't get out of

Trap (2024) 2.4 of 10 stars ⭐ 

BASIC PLOT:

An idiot serial killer walks into, an out of several traps, set by an inept profiler, at an arena, while a terrible concert is going on.

WHAT WORKS:

The concept could have been good - IF - the whole movie took place in the arena. IF the serial killer was smart and scary. IF the profiler was more cunning, and more imposing than the serial killer. IF there was an escalating cat and mouse game between the serial killer and profiler, that eventually ended in the serial killer dying, when one of his ploys backfired. None of that happens, so it's a FAIL!

WHAT DOESN'T WORK:

*THE FIRST 48 MINUTES ARE BORING AF, I actually felt like I was at a bad concert I only went to for my kids. That's not a good thing. 

*THE WHOLE MOVIE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN PLACE AT THE ARENA. It should have been a cat and mouse game between the profiler and the serial killer, with each out doing each other with cunning ploys. BUT THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN! It's just a bunch of blundering around, doing things with no point, and no one is outwitting anyone else.

*WHERE IS COOPER GETTING THE MONEY for his multiple vehicles and safe houses? He's a fireman, and his wife's a teacher, and they have two kids. Don't give me it's the money he steals from his victims. Any real money he took from them would leave a paper trail, and that would lead to his getting caught.

*COOPER ISN'T VERY SMART OR CALCULATING. He isn't very scary, and seems to be blindly blundering around without a plan. When he does have a plan, they ALL fail miserably.

*THE PROFILER IS ALSO MISCAST. She's too old, not intimidating, not threatening, and doesn't seem to be particularly cunning. 

*WHY DOESN'T LADY RAVEN SCREAM WHEN THE WINDOW IS DOWN IN THE LIMO? She barely says anything, even though she's been kidnapped.

*WHEN LADY RAVEN (STUPIDEST NAME EVER) TAKES COOPER'S PHONE, IT'S ALREADY LOGGED INTO HER PAGE. How would Cooper be logged into her page on his phone, so she can live stream so quickly?

Torturous concert
with no audience

*THIS IS SUPPOSEDLY A SOLD OUT CONCERT, but there's hundreds of unoccupied seats in the arena that we, the viewer, clearly see. We can also hear that's it's not even half full.

*PSYCHOLOGICALLY SPEAKING COOPER WOULD NEVER DOUBT HIS CONTROL OVER HIS FAMILY and he would be right. In the real world, the family of serial killers never know what they are doing. To recognize predatory behavior, one has to be a predator. Serial killers tend to pick people to surround themselves with who are normal, and therefore easily manipulated. In other words, if you didn't suspect him, that's a good thing! It means you're normal! He would be able to manipulate (control) his family. If he felt he lost that, he would leave.

Rachel is
omnipotent 

*RACHEL, COOPER'S WIFE, SUSPECTS HIM OF BEING A SERIAL KILLER BECAUSE HE LIED TO A NEIGHBOR TO GET OUT OF GOING TO A BBQ?! And we're supposed to believe that? She more likely would think he was kind, because he didn't want to hurt the neighbor's feelings, and did it in a way to spare him. We project motivations we want to see in others, especially in those we love.

*RACHEL ALSO SUSPECTS HIM BECAUSE HE SMELLS OF CLEANING FLUID We've established Cooper has OCD, his wife would know this, and wouldn't suspect a thing when he smelled like cleaning fluid. Secondly, she says she was suspicious because it smelled different from the fire house (where Cooper works) cleaner. Wouldn't she just assume the fire house added a new cleaner? That's a Deus ex Machina, and a bad one.

Of course, every mother
would let their child
hang out with serial 
killers…

*ASK ANY MOTHER -WOULD YOU LET YOUR CHILD GO ANYWHERE WITH SOMEONE YOU SUSPECTED OF BEING A SERIAL KILLER? The answer would ALWAYS BE NO!!! It wouldn't matter if that person was their father, you still wouldn't let them go! No mother would, but we're supposed to believe Rachel would. Give me a break!

*WAS THEIR NO PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANTS ON THIS MOVIE? Did no one even bother to watch an episode of Criminal Minds or Monster in My Family? Cooper WOULD NOT return to his home, he would not suspect his wife of turning on him, his wife would not suspect him, Lady Raven wouldn't go with him, etc etc etc

*THE SONG "FIRE" SOUNDS LIKE SALEKA SHYAMALAN IS HAVING A SEIZURE. The music throughout is BAD! She's supposed to be a Lady Gaga clone? Maybe in a bad drag club in Thailand. The songs are all atrocious, not because Saleka Shyamalan can't sing, she sounds like every other auto tune artist these days, but what she doesn't have is a hook, or a "ONE" (see James Brown) on ANY of her songs. It's noise, computer generated noise. 

Non-creepy smiles
from a non-believable
serial killer

*THE ACTING IS BAD and that's down to the directing (M. Night Shyamalan), because I know Josh Harnett can act. You wouldn't know if though, his attempts to be scary while smiling are laughable and pathetic.

*YOU CAN'T HAVE A SERIAL KILLER MOVIE WITHOUT KILLING but that's what you have here. I guess M. Night Shyamalan forgot serial killers kill people. He was too busy pimping his daughter out.

*THIS KIND OF NEPOTISM IS UGLY full stop.