Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched one of the 2024 movie schedule’s most anticipated thrillers, M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, so be warned!
The majority of moviegoers are well aware that what they’re watching on the big screen isn’t necessarily meant to reflect reality with precision, but there’s something distinctly enjoyable about questioning the realism behind sci-fi characters and technology or an action movie’s stunts. Today we’re putting our sights on the M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller Trap, which may be the only movie about a serial killer in which no actual murders take place.
The lack of deaths isn’t on the table today, however, but rather Trap’s bizarro way of handling its core setting, an arena concert for the fictional pop star Lady Raven (portrayed by the director’s real-life musician daughter Saleka Night Shyamalan). As someone who has been to all sizes of concerts since my teens, I found myself regularly taken out of the movie largely due to moments and details tied specifically to the concert experience itself. Let’s dig into those nagging elements below, presumably with some poppy bangers blasting on the soundtrack.
The Whole Idea Of An Afternoon Show Is A Huge Stretch
Immediately, Trap set out to confuse viewers. Not with any potentially impending twists, but by taking place at some point during the afternoon, rather than at night when concerts are generally set. The narrative-based explanation is that the Philly show's tickets sold out immediately, so Lady Raven and her peeps chose to add a second show in the city. But instead of having it on a different night, she chose to make it a matinee performance. Which makes next to zero sense.
Not even accounting for the police presence and all the planning involved there, setting up two full-on performances within one arena on a single day is a logistical nightmare. Not only for performers' voices, bodies and mental states, but for everyone working inside the arena itself. It would require a constant influx of food, beverages and merchandise, as well as all of the janitorial duties required for such a stretch. And don't get me started on how parking would work, because it wouldn't.
Trap's Pre-Concert Timeline Is Just Bonkers
If I’m recalling things correctly, Ariel Donoghue’s Riley was rushing her father, Josh Hartnett’s Cooper, ahead of arriving at the fictional Tanaka Arena, seemingly so that they would be part of the crowd waiting to see Lady Raven emerging from her tour bus. I can almost buy that detail being something fans would spread around, despite this seemingly being a one-off afternoon show, and despite the idea that she would almost definitely have arrived far earlier in the day, given all the production details.
Then after that, it was hours of waiting in line outside the arena, right? Nope, the doors were already opened once they walked up, which means they didn’t arrive at the site that much earlier than the show, since venues rarely open up more than 90 minutes prior to a scheduled start time. It’s strange that there wasn’t a bigger push for security upon entry, but I’ll buy that as an attempt to avoid spooking The Butcher.
But then after Riley and Cooper are inside, there’s no sense of real urgency ahead of Lady Raven’s performance, and there are people milling about everywhere at any given point, with the main characters included there. When they go out to their seats, it’s extremely clear just how vacant the arena still is at that point, despite the lack of multiple opening acts serving as a time buffer.
Who Has A Sit-Down Meal And Then More Snacks Before A Concert?
So Riley and Cooper didn’t have a seven-course spread or anything, but they were very much sitting down and eating a legitimate lunch after getting into the arena, which is baffling to me. Even if alcohol isn’t involved, nothing sounds worse than filling my stomach up before spending more than an hour jumping up and down while screaming and sweating.
And then they ate MORE food upon getting to their seats? Sure, it’s just a giant pretzel, but geez. Also, this must have been the greatest concession spot on the entire planet if they were able to go multiple times before Lady Raven even took the stage.
Merch Sellers Are Way Too Busy For Exposition-Filled Conversations With Randos
Now, if we’re talking about a local band playing at a local bar, where a friend of the group is selling vinyl and T-shirts at a table in the back, then yes, it’s easy to buy into a merch booth attendant being able to carry on multiple conversations with someone who isn’t a co-worker. But, uh, this isn’t that.
This is a pop mega-star with a big enough legion of fans to have dubbed them The Flock, so it’s easy to assume that merch table would have been slam-packed for the entire show, leaving Jamie zero opportunities to share key plot points with a nosy bystander. Alternatively, if he did take the time to talk to a random customer, Jamie’s co-workers would have been hollering at his ass too loud for the customer to hear anything else.
Intermissions, Seriously?
Even though he continuously says he wants to be with Riley during the concert, Cooper is constantly walking around the arena as the show is going on, making it hard to gauge exactly how long Lady Raven’s concert is. But considering this part of the show was only inspired by Taylor Swift’s stardom, and isn’t meant to replicate the massiveness of the Eras Tour (which Josh Hartnett attended at one point), it doesn’t seem like the kind of gig that would require one or more intermissions for costume changes and set rearrangements.
The only time I’ve ever witnessed an artist take more than one “turn the house lights up” break, it was for a show that went over 5 hours. Clearly, Lady Raven’s show wasn’t that kind of deal. Perhaps the most annoying thing about this particular element is that the dialogue addressed the intermission, so I’d have been none the wiser if the applicable lines would have been cut.
What Happened To Everyone Who Bought Tickets To The Evening Show?
To circle things back around to the initial issue with this concert happening in the afternoon, Trap doesn't ever seen to address the fact that Lady Raven was supposed to put on a completely different concert later that night. I'm honestly shocked that there wasn't a line about the night performance being canceled once it became a killer-hunting sting operation. Did the pop artist and everyone else really expect to catch a killer and then everything would still play out as if it were a normal day?
If any of Cooper's harmful actions within the arena had ended with the obviously intentional death of an attendee or employee, I have to think the police would have shut things down. Even if they'd just caught him in the backstage area, I can't imagine a scenario where he gets booked and all of the other cops skedaddle in time to properly prep for the evening show.
Maybe the sequel will be about a group of Lady Raven fans who were desperately waiting for that presumably canceled Philly show, and then take matters into their own hands by going after Cooper themselves upon his presumed escape from custody. I'd go see it.
Time will tell if Trap’s box office success is big enough to spark interest for Trap 2. Or if Saleka Shyamalan's music career gets a big enough boost for her actual concerts to make it to the big screen.
