Does M. Night Shyamalan still have a few tricks — or rather, twists — up his sleeve? According to the man himself, his newest movie "Trap" is proof that he does. Kind of.
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00:00Does M. Night Shyamalan still have a few tricks — or, rather, twists — up his sleeve?
00:05According to the man himself, his newest movie, Trap, is proof that he does.
00:09Kind of.
00:10Spoilers ahead.
00:11Shyamalan has forged a thriving career by making movies that are far more than what
00:15initially meets the eye.
00:17Unfortunately, this has also earned him a one-size-fits-all label as a filmmaker — the
00:21twist guy.
00:22How about we make everyone think that terrorists attacked us, but really, we were all already
00:27dead.
00:28Get him out of here."
00:30Some of his movies have better twists than others.
00:32The Sixth Sense or The Village?
00:35Masterclasses in twistology.
00:37Old or The Happening?
00:38Meh.
00:39So it goes without saying that everyone's been wondering, where does his latest effort,
00:42Trap, land in terms of twist quality?
00:44When the trailers dropped, people were definitely taking it back.
00:47It seemed that the twist was spoiled from the get-go.
00:49Josh Hartnett's Cooper, a seemingly loving father who brings his daughter to a concert,
00:54is actually a serial killer who necessitates the Trap in the first place.
00:58So what's the deal?
00:59Why would Shyamalan allow for the trailers to give away what we assume to be the big
01:02reveal?
01:03In a recent interview with us here at SlashFilm, Shyamalan addressed this very idea of Trap
01:07giving away its own twist, and provided a surprising response.
01:10In his eyes, Cooper's real identity as the central murderer wasn't even a twist to begin
01:14with.
01:15As he put it,
01:17That's the premise of the movie.
01:18You're watching it from the point of view of someone unexpected, is really what the
01:21movie's telling you.
01:23Not necessarily a plot point, but what's unconsciously happening is you're identifying with him as
01:27you're finding out the premise of the movie.
01:28So that's actually the funky twist of it, is not the information, that he's in a trap
01:32or that he's the killer, it's that you are the killer.
01:35Obviously, that last part isn't meant literally, but the point is well taken.
01:38By getting us to align ourselves through Cooper's perspective as the villain of the story, the
01:42emotional effect is that it almost makes us a guilty party.
01:45That is a twist.
01:50Turns out, though, this isn't the only twist to be experienced.
01:53In a dangerous feat that doesn't always work out for filmmakers, the marketing for Trap
01:57sells a very different movie from the one we ended up getting.
02:00Whether that's a good thing or not is entirely up to you.
02:03Here come those spoilers.
02:04The first hour or so is spent following Cooper and his daughter Riley throughout pop star
02:08Lady Raven's spectacle-filled concert.
02:10The cat-and-mouse game between Cooper and the authorities on a furious manhunt reaches
02:14a climax when Cooper does the unthinkable.
02:16After lying his way into getting Riley chosen to perform onstage with Lady Raven, his plans
02:21blow up in his face when even this backstage pass requires them to pass through a security
02:25checkpoint to leave the venue.
02:26A total deal-breaker for Cooper, who is willing to do anything to escape without anyone knowing
02:30his true identity.
02:32So what he does instead is reveal himself to Lady Raven herself, force her into cooperating,
02:36and use her private limousine to leave the premises safe and sound.
02:39As a result, the second half of the movie tightens its focus considerably and provides
02:43an ending that gets us right in the head of the serial killer.
02:46By trading in this claustrophobic setup of a murderer squeezing out of a sting operation
02:50for a psychological drama about a sociopath coming to terms with his own true nature,
02:55Trap successfully delivers a one-of-a-kind experience that we simply don't get enough
02:58of these days.
02:59In an IP-dominated system practically built around the idea of giving people exactly what
03:04they want, no more and no less, Shyamalan still isn't afraid to do his own thing, even
03:08if it ends up being divisive.