Critics were decidedly mixed on “Trap,” which means that at least half of them are just totally wrong about this movie. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie only earned a 57% rating, which falls below the “fresh” threshold, and the consensus reads, “An arch thriller given some grounding by Josh Hartnett’s committed performance, Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ will ensnare those who appreciate its tongue-in-cheek style while the rest will be eager to wriggle out from it.” (I should note here that /Film’s own Jeremy Mathai mostly enjoyed it but did have some reservations.)
Writing for Time Magazine, Stephanie Zacharek wrote, “‘Trap’ isn’t the worst Shyamalan movie; no one would say it’s the best. It’s suspended somewhere in the murky middle, but at the very least it has an amiable goofiness.” At the Washington Post, Thomas Floyd opined, “Even when Shyamalan flirts with a novel idea — maybe stan culture and social media obsession are good things? — he neglects to follow through.” Some, like Lovia Gyarkye for The Hollywood Reporter, took issue with Saleka Night Shyamalan’s full-length concert: “The film is a concert movie for Shyamalan’s daughter, the musician Saleka, wrapped in a middling thriller kept afloat by a compelling performance from Josh Hartnett.” (Okay, that one’s fair.)
On a more positive note, some critics really liked “Trap”! For Rolling Stone, David Fear said, “It is undeniably camp, however, and we look forward to attending one of those midnight reclamation-revival screenings à la ‘Showgirls.'” Shirley Li expressed a similar sentiment for The Atlantic, saying the movie is “full of off-key, seemingly atonal beats that will likely alienate viewers hoping for more conventional horror-movie scares. Yet it also builds to a cohesive whole, and the movie’s peculiarity is gratifying at this stage in the director’s career.” Over at Vulture, Alison Willmore wrote, ‘”Trap,’ in other words, is as much a movie about the difficulties of staying present in the moment as it is about being a serial killer on the lam — and that, actually, is a twist worth savoring.” Finally, at The New Yorker, Richard Brody summed things up pretty well: “Like Cooper, Shyamalan confidently sees through the vanity. His vision is a sardonic one, and it feels as if his cinematic smirks conceal rage at the impotence and banality of which ordinary life is made.”