Thriller is entertaining if you like Shyamalan

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SALT LAKE CITY — We critics have been riding director M. Night Shyamalan like an overworked circus pony for so long, that it has become part of his critical equation when we look at his movies. Especially his latest — “Trap”.

Did he land the twist? Did he place himself or other family members in obvious moments that pulled us out of the movie? If only temporarily? Does he fall in love with the “look” of his films, at the peril of ignoring plot holes and convenient storylines?

Yes, all of the above.

Yet occasionally, he will bring an actor on board who elevates the material to substantive levels of thrills and chills. That actor, in this case, would be Josh Hartnett, who is having somewhat of a resurgence in his career, with last year’s appearance in “Oppenheimer” and now this.

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In “Trap,” Hartnett plays Cooper, a dad excited to take his daughter to a Lady Raven concert (her favorite artist) in a big arena setting. Filled with 20,000 screaming fans, Lady Raven (played by Night’s own daughter Saleka Shyamalan) puts on a high-energy show that daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) exclaims is the “best day of her life,” which is nice since it’s also her birthday.

As they take their floor seats, Cooper notices a massive police presence at all the exits, even cops pulling other dads out of the audience for questioning. He conveniently discovers from a T-shirt vendor that this is just an elegant sting operation to capture the notorious “Butcher,” a local serial killer with a dozen gruesome murders under his belt, who authorities are told will be in attendance on this date — also convenient.

Yet police in “Trap” have zero idea what he looks like. And there are nearly 3,000 other guys in that arena that could fit the bill. Fortunately, the cops have a highly-respected profiler, Dr. Grant (Hayley Mills) on their team — and yes — it’s that Hayley Mills — who was a huge young movie starlet in the 60s (I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t recognize her).

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Here was the burning question for me. They have no clue what the Butcher looks like. So why couldn’t Cooper and his unknowing daughter just walk right out of there with the rest of the departing crowd? Nope. Instead, he’s gonna “MacGyver” a bunch of deceptions and distractions like he was auditioning for the next “Mission: Impossible! Seriously, M!”

And as this phantom noose slowly closes down on nobody in particular, his acts of self-preservation reach levels of audacity that didn’t need to be performed in the first place!

But take place, they did. And that’s only the tip of the insane iceberg that lies dead ahead in this Shyamalan thriller that doesn’t know when to say when.

Yet, by golly, I was entertained. And maybe I’m just tired of picking on Shyamalan because he’s going to continue to make movies his way regardless. So I give up, knock yourself out.

Trap (B) Rated PG-13 for some violent content and brief strong language. Starring Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Alison Pill. Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan (“Signs” “The Sixth Sense”) – filmed in Toronto and Philadelphia. Running time: 105 min.

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