Trap, this week’s film starring Josh Hartnett and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, has critics divided, according to the aggregated scores on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie, centers on a man and his daughter who find themselves trapped in a concert hall with a serial killer (and 30,000 suspects), carries a “rotten” score of 44% on the site as of this writing. As it’s opening day, those numbers are still shifting a little — it was 43% when we started writing the article! — but it’s unlikely to make a huge shift, considering there are already over 40 professional reviews accounted for. That said, Rotten Tomatoes has only logged a few reviews from “top critics” yet, so there may be room for a shift as the weekend rolls on.
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Matt Singer from ScreenCrush, in a 7/10 review, called the movie “the most overtly Hitchcockian thing Shyamalan’s ever made.” On the other side of the coin, Detroit News‘s Adam Graham says the movie is “a silly jumble of half-ideas that confounds at every turn. Shyamalan usually waits for a twist ending to topple his movies, but this time he’s off the rails right from the very start.”
On the audience side, the movie is faring better. It currently sits at 67% positive.
The movie features original songs by Saleka Shyamalan (as Lady Raven), marking the second big family collaboration recently after Shyamalan produced his daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan’s directorial debut The Watchers.
In Trap, “A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock, and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.
The director of photography is Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me by Your Name). The production designer is Debbie de Villa (The Hating Game). It is edited by Noëmi Preiswerk and the music is by Herdĭs Stefănsdŏttir (Knock at the Cabin). The music supervisor is Susan Jacobs (Old); the costume designer is Caroline Duncan (Old). The casting is by Douglas Aibel (Asteroid City).
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A Blinding Edge Pictures Production, An M. Night Shyamalan Film: Trap. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, opens in theaters in the U.S. today and internationally on August 9th.