In my opinion, Trap is an outright terrible movie. And its director, M. Night Shyamalan M. Night Shyamalan, is the Hollywood "master" I understand the least.
First, let me explain why I think Trap is such a dud.
For starters, the trailer deceived me yet again. I mean, it is well-made and sets up a thrilling premise: a massive police operation surrounds a concert venue to capture a serial killer, “the Butcher,” sealing off all exits. It showcases the Butcher as the cunning, ruthless protagonist, dodging the police at every turn. It made the movie look like an intense cat-and-mouse game, something akin to The Bourne Identity.
But when I watched the actual movie, it turned out there wasn’t anything thrilling about it. Sure, there are a lot of SWAT officers, but they don’t really do anything helpful. There are no intense explosions or action scenes as I imagined. Instead, the officers are just scattered around the venue performing flawed searches. They just look like a bunch of tall actors in uniforms at a costume party. And yes, the Butcher does try to dodge the police by pulling tricks—like stealing an employee’s badge to sneak into staff areas or snatching a police radio to track their movements. But honestly, these are just little tricks, which don’t make him look like a genius, they only highlight how ineffective the police are.
It would all be fine if this movie were a critique of police negligence—like how Memories of Murder brilliantly explores the complex societal issues of its time under the guise of a murder mystery. But Trap has no such depth; it’s purely an entertainment flick. To add some tension, Shyamalan introduced a supposedly brilliant female supervisor leading the operation. That’s fine, except that the constant blunders made by the officers during the operation make the whole thing feel absurdly comical. The director tried hard to emphasize the intelligence of both the female lead and the Butcher, but, in reality, it feels as simplistic as kids playing make-believe.
I’ve read some articles arguing that Trap’s cat-and-mouse game isn’t the focus; it’s actually about the father-daughter relationship. But even if that’s true, the emotional storyline is just as sloppy. Sure, it seems enviable in the beginning when the father and daughter are shown chatting like friends and making fun of each other. And it tugs at your heartstrings at the end when the daughter still rushes to embrace him after the father is captured. When you think about it, the emotions I felt had nothing to do with Shyamalan’s storytelling, but everything to do with basic human empathy. The film spends a lot of time establishing how close the father and daughter are at the start, and throughout the movie, they never lose faith in each other, despite the father using the girl to aid his escape or the girl inadvertently hindering his plans. They never complain, their bond never wavers, and they validate each other—it’s all too idealistic. When I see such an unrealistically perfect father-daughter duo, I can’t help but feel touched, hoping they get a happy ending. Essentially, Shyamalan is manipulating our natural empathy to create emotional resonance rather than developing fully fleshed-out characters.
To give a positive example, look at Maid. In that show, the protagonist Alex receives help from her father during her darkest moments, and just when she’s ready to accept him, a single gesture reminds her of the violence he inflicted on her and her mother in the past, so she still chooses to leave her now seemingly “kind” father.
Human relationships are complex. A daughter’s trust in her father isn’t unconditional, as shown in Trap. At the end of the film, when the father tries to kill the informant’s wife but fails and is captured, the daughter still embraces him—that’s just not believable.
Like most of Shyamalan’s work, Trap isn’t a movie worth deep analysis. And that’s exactly why I find him so baffling.
I mean, he hasn’t made a genuinely good movie after The Sixth Sense. Take the ratings on Peliplat as an example: Trap (2024), 6.2; Knock at the Cabin (2023), 6.4; Old (2021), 6.1; Glass (2019), 6.8... none of them scores above 7. The Sixth Sense is indeed a classic and deserves its 8.3 rating, but that was back in 1999. Over the past 25 years, he’s churned out countless box office and critical flops.
It’s really puzzling. Securing funding from producers for a film is no easy task. There are countless directors who’ve made award-winning movies yet still struggle to get their next project off the ground—for example, Guillermo del Toro , director of Hellboy and The Shape of Water, made successful blockbusters and won 3 Oscars, but he’s admitted that many of his stories remain unmade because they don’t get funding. Even The Sixth Sense, despite its acclaim, didn’t win Shyamalan an Oscar. Yet he continues to get funding for his films, despite their underwhelming box office performance. Even more astonishing, big-name actors likeJosh Hartnett , Will Smith , and Gael García Bernal keep signing up to star in his movies.
What’s even stranger is that I keep hearing his name among the fandom. I can’t remember exactly where, but every time he has a new release, there’s a wave of articles or discussions analyzing his previous works and anticipating the new one. I genuinely don’t get why he has so many fans. Yes, he’s good at coming up with novel ideas—superpowers, ghosts, mysterious substances that cause suicides or rapid aging—but they’re just ideas. Turning an idea into a full-fledged movie is complicated. The trailers for his films always highlight these intriguing concepts in a repetitive but undeniably captivating way; however, the actual movies are so disappointing. His directing skills are far from impressive, with no memorable scenes except for his signature outlandish plot twists.
In short, after watching Trap, my opinion of M. Night Shyamalan remains unchanged—just watch the trailer and you’ll get the gist. As for why he keeps making flops but still secures funding and fans, I’m still at a loss. If you’re a Shyamalan expert, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear your take.
Catch you later for more movie musings!
Share your thoughts!
Be the first to start the conversation.