As the current blockbuster era descends into mediocrity, movie buffs often complain about Hollywood’s allergy to original movies. thirty years agobox office charts were full of new stories that balanced mainstream entertainment value (at least in some cases) with genuine artistic value. Now these charts $200 million sequels and recycled franchise intellectual property dominate to the point where new ideas have a hard time getting their due. by M. Night Shyamalan Trap is a textbook example; A light-hearted and entertaining thriller from a director at the top of his game, it has been overshadowed by such notable films as: Deadpool and Wolverine. If you missed it this summer Trap‘s arrival at Max is a welcome opportunity to correct this mistake.

A twisted view of the cat-and-mouse genre, Trap Josh Hartnett plays Cooper, a lovable dad who lives a secret double life as a serial killer. Shyamalan’s approach The serial killer tropes are clearly caricatured, giving Cooper an amusingly simple nickname (“The Butcher”), and his motivations are based on it. psycho-period cliché. The film, which appeals to a PG-13 rating, avoids describing his crimes in detail. Instead, most of the action takes place at a pop concert, where Cooper accompanies his daughter Riley (Arial Donoghue) to see her idol, Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan), amid a crowd of screaming teenage girls.

This is where the trap comes in, of course. Law enforcement received a tip that Butcher would be attending Lady Raven’s show, and as soon as Cooper and Riley stepped through the arena doors, they were surrounded by a well-oiled police machine. SWAT teams and FBI profilers try to determine which audience member is a serial killer in disguise.

Like Cooper’s meticulously planned double life, this entire concept is based on over-the-top Hollywood nonsense. It’s a fantasy in which law enforcement is filled with cunning investigators commanding highly trained teams tasked at great expense to bring down a single criminal mastermind. Meanwhile, Cooper soon establishes himself as a perversely charming anti-hero, vacillating between his goofy dad persona and displaying his talents as a ruthlessly quick-thinking strategist.

Shyamalan has decades of experience creating well-paced thrillers and quickly gets us involved in the stakes of Cooper, an objectively bad guy on the run from the FBI. Cooper’s problem-solving style has the same appeal as heist movies Eleven of the OceanHis relationship with his daughter gives us an emotional reason to root for his success.

At the same time Trap It’s very funny most of the time. Much of its humor relies on Hartnett’s supremely determined performance, laying bare the absurdity of Cooper’s situation. There’s a clear element of black comedy as he fights for his life at an artificial Taylor Swift concert, and in a few brief but memorable scenes we see the haunted Kid Cudi chewing up the scenery as Lady Raven’s histrionic pop star mentor.

This masterful combination of suspense, comedy, and emotional heft is why Shyamalan has enjoyed consistent commercial success for over 20 years, but it falls just short of the skill required to land a movie. Trap. Embracing the ridiculousness of its premise, this film never feels ironic or self-conscious. Hartnett portrays Cooper to the fullest, even in moments that come across as punchlines. And from a technical perspective, Trap much more thoughtful than the average contemporary blockbuster.

Shot by acclaimed cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers), Trap is full of bold visual choices that energize a deceptively static environment. His most memorable image is probably the extreme close-ups of Hartnett’s face; It shows Cooper’s eyes flickering between paternal love, steely calculation, and soulless anger. There are also clever little details like Shyamalan’s framing of the scene. Emphasizing Lady Raven’s role as an untouchable celebrity, we are only allowed to see her from Cooper and Riley’s perspective in the audience.

Despite its mixed reception (with a heavy heart) 52% average on Metacritic) Trap He will get his due eventually. That’s certainly the case with other Shyamalan films, which began with dubious reviews but were reevaluated as critics warmed to his storytelling. Neither a serious art film nor a disposable franchise sludge, Trap It represents the middle ground that is slowly being pushed out of American cinema. It’s a trashy but original crowd-pleaser, made with real skill and respect for the audience. Shyamalan understands the appeal of an elaborate thriller starring an impossibly competent hunk, and he also believes the story should be told with panache. If you choose to miss the winning formula, you only have yourself to blame.