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This article was originally published on August 6, 2024.Trapis now available to rent and purchase on digital platforms.
Spoilers ahead for the ending ofTrap.
(Its how he got his unfair reputation as a one-hoodwink pony.)
There is, for example, no earth-shattering surprise lurking at the finish line ofhis new film,Trap.
Even if you havent seenTrapyet, you probably know what its about.
The trailer lets that cat right out of the bag.
Josh Hartnett is Cooper, a sweet girl dad who takes his teenage daughter to a pop concert.
Only it turns out that Cooper is also … a vicious, at-large serial killer dubbed the Butcher.
(Why, in 2024, would anyone have a physical receipt for a concert?)
But the revelation that it was Rachel who planted that receipt is a plot revelation with some real bite.
It opens up a whole domestic drama underneathTrap.
This one scene raises a lot of intriguing questions about Cooper and Rachels marriage.
How did he maintain his dual lives for as long as he did?
And when did she first get an inkling that there was something seriously wrong with him?
Rachel says that the giveaway was the medical cleaning solution she smelled on his clothes.
But surely there were smaller hints throughout their years together.
The scene ends with a drugged Cooper finally falling into police custody.
Here, again, Shyamalan strains credulity.
His rage toward Rachel a few minutes earlier conveys something similar.
He lets us in on the secret, then gets to play with it for two hours.
Who we are to our loved ones isnt alwaysentirelywho we are.
Its how Cooper can be a force of evil and also a good husband and father all at once.
The two sides of him are not mutually exclusive.
His duality becomes an extreme version of any person who does wrong to others and right by their own.
Its also just a wicked perversion of the work-life balance conundrum.
Who is Cooper really but a guy struggling to keep his twin passions separated?
The high concept ofTrapconceals a more fascinating, disturbing portrait of evil as a side hustle.
The movie builds to that revelation then ends just as its really become interesting.
Hows that for a twist?
