# Trap (2024) was not good **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 29, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384 "2024-10-29T01:37:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/21 "2024-10-30T16:51:47Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I was hoping that the daughter would end up being the killer… Now _that’s_ a movie I’d love to see! Personally I was hoping the singer was the killer, and that she’d recruit the daughter and father to help her carry out another one… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/22 "2024-10-30T17:02:00Z")
> [@simster](#): > > What a twist! Or the dad ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/23 "2024-10-30T17:02:55Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Personally I was hoping the singer was the killer, and that she’d recruit the daughter and father to help her carry out another one Lady Raven: I don’t know. I’ve always just loved to kill. I really enjoyed it. But then I got famous, and - it’s just too hard for me. And so many witnesses. I mean, _everybody_ recognized me. I couldn’t even lurk anymore. I’d hear, “Who’s that lurking over there? Isn’t that Lady Raven?” So I came to Europe to kill. And it’s really worked out very well for me. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/24 "2024-10-30T17:08:52Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Lady Raven: I don’t know. I’ve always just loved to kill. I really enjoyed it. But then I got famous, and - it’s just too hard for me. And so many witnesses. I mean, _everybody_ recognized me. I couldn’t even lurk anymore. I’d hear, “Who’s that lurking over there? Isn’t that Lady Raven?” So I came to Europe to kill. And it’s really worked out very well for me. There’s just such creativity and _beauty_ in each kill… the dynamics of every scream, the harmonics of each weapon dancing with the others, the crescendos of eye-fluttering agony… oh god, If only I could do it all _on stage_. Imagine the gasps, the cheers, the horror, the ecstasy of release! Now when I run into someone in a dark alley, I’m always a bit sad when they like my music more than my other art. How I wish I could share that part of my life! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/25 "2024-10-30T17:22:49Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Now when I run into someone in a dark alley, I’m always a bit sad when they like my music more than my other art. How I wish I could share that part of my life! I might go see that film! ---
**Author:** ![SlipperyPete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@SlipperyPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlipperyPete)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/26 "2024-10-30T19:13:48Z")
I may be mistaken, but I think the police had a rough description, some DNA evidence and a ticket stub left behind at the last crime scene. So, they simply take a swab from every adult male leaving the not-Taylor-Swift concert and they find their man. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/27 "2024-10-30T19:23:28Z")
Yeah, there were in story reasons given that explained all that. I forget what it was exactly since I saw it so long ago, but I’ll just say again to @Just_Asking_Questions that it’s really annoying to keep having to explain your issues that _are answered in the film_. See the film and then criticize it all you want but making up stuff in your head and saying it’s bad for _those_ reasons (when there are actual legitimate problems with it) is silly. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/28 "2024-10-30T19:26:47Z")
I really thought that the killer was going to be the wife, and the dad was trying to shift the blame to himself to protect the daughter or to confuse any prosecution. What a bunch of dumbass police, either standing side by side in a hallway with nothing real to do, or when seeing something strange as on the roof, don’t call it in or just hold the guy for an hour. And no bodyguard in the limo, or in escort vehicles. At best, it’s a good lesson on how to not to protect the person you’re supposed to keep safe? At least the closing credits scene was kind of funny. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/29 "2024-10-30T19:36:29Z")
> [@SlipperyPete](#): > > So, they simply take a swab from every adult male leaving the not-Taylor-Swift concert and they find their man Not without a warrant they won’t. Or is my comment invalid because I didn’t go see the movie? > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > it’s really annoying to keep having to explain your issues that _are answered in the film_. 🙄 Last time I checked, it wasn’t a requirement to know the answer to something before you ask a question about that something. That’s why I asked! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/30 "2024-10-30T20:01:55Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I read it was based on the real life case where a bunch of people with warrants were all given free passes to a concert(?) and when they showed up they were all arrested. [Yes.](https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/a61763597/the-remarkable-true-story-behind-m-night-shyamalans-trap/#) The NPR radio interview about the movie, the real life episode that gave him the idea, and his daughter and his collaborating on the music for Lady Raven, was much better than the movie. All the same complaints but I could overlook most of those. It was more to me that before we know he’s a horror movie serial killer we see him as the underdog clearly trapped. I was sort of hoping he would be a rootable antihero. Not Hannibal. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/31 "2024-10-30T23:49:04Z")
The NPR interview. > **[M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie is a collaboration with his daughter](https://www.npr.org/2024/07/28/nx-s1-4957618/m-night-shyamalans-latest-movie-is-a-collaboration-with-his-daughter)** > > NPR's Debbie Elliott talks to writer-director M. Night Shyamalan and actor-singer Saleka Shyamalan. The father and daughter duo have collaborated on the new thriller, "Trap." Reading it over now I sort of get the vibe of Cooper and Riley and it make me wonder a bit about M Night … ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/32 "2024-10-31T01:56:45Z")
Those of a certain age (old) may be joining me in wondering what Haley “Parent Trap” Mills was doing there. Don’t get me wrong; it was lovely to see her, but what an odd casting choice. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/33 "2024-10-31T02:49:17Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > making up stuff in your head and saying it’s bad for _those_ reasons (when there are actual legitimate problems with it) is silly. The dinosaurs looked fake. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/34 "2024-10-31T13:55:19Z")
Wife and I watched this last night. Oh man, _yes_ was it bad. Unlike the OP though, since I went in with very low expectations, I had fun watching to see just _ **how** _ bad. If I had gone in not knowing it was a Shyamalan movie, I’m pretty sure I would have figured it out pretty quickly. This movie had the Shyamalan stink all over it: the bad acting and dialogue as mentioned in the OP, including clumsy bits of exposition to either shamble the plot forward or to use pseudo-psychology to explain the bad guy’s motivations. The ham-handed attempts to create suspense and tension, as if a High School AV class C student was trying to imitate Hitchcock. And the plot holes, oh the many, many plot holes. I won’t go into a big list of plot holes, because with all the spoiler-blurring, my post would look more redacted than an FBI Freedom of Information request document. So I’ll just mention one at the end: my wife said the bad guy shouldn’t be nicknamed the Butcher, he should be nicknamed Houdini because of all the freakin’ _miraculous_ escapes he made when he was surrounded several times. He’s finally captured alive, by being tased, not shot, despite attacking and possibly blinding a cop during his multiple tasings (not that I approve shooting anybody, but we’re talking M. Night movie rules-- when the killer was taken alive against all odds, I knew he’d escape again). So he’s shackled up and perp-walked out and he sees his kid’s bike on the ground. He’s allowed to stand the bike upright, since he has OCD, you see. Next he’s in the back of an armored paddy wagon alone, no cop back there with him. And he removes a bike spoke from his sleeve to pick the handcuffs and removes them, while laughing maniacally. Fino. Now, all the cops and the movie audience were watching the guy when he set the bike upright. There’s no way he could have yanked a spoke out without it being noticed. I almost hit reverse to watch the scene again, but said screw it, I don’t really care that much. > [@JohnGalt](#): > > At least the closing credits scene was kind of funny. Can you post a spoiler-blurred summary of it? I turned it off before the credits, and I do not feel like playing the movie again and fast forwarding to find out for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/35 "2024-10-31T14:44:47Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > The dinosaurs looked fake. You have experience with real dinosaurs? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/36 "2024-10-31T14:52:21Z")
The end credits scene has the T-shirt seller back at home watching the news realizing that the guy he helped find the special shirt was the killer. Freaked him out. Cute and relatable. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/37 "2024-10-31T14:59:51Z")
Thanks! Appreciate it. Yeah, that t-shirt scene was a dumb plot hole in itself: Hey, random stranger, despite the fact that I _just explained_ that an unidentified killer is trapped here among the small subset of adult males in the crowd, c’mon back with me to an area so secure an employee-issued key card is needed to enter! ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384/38 "2024-10-31T18:01:28Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > You have experience with real dinosaurs? The EFFECTS in the DINOSAUR STAMPEDE scene looked fake. Also: hey, everyone! This guy doesn’t have experience with real dinosaurs! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trap-2024-was-not-good/1009384.md?page=1)