Trap (M. Night Shyamalan)

oaken1

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The marketing for this sure makes it look like he's the serial killer. Even moreso with the 2nd trailer.
I think its his daughter and daddy knows but he is trying to protect his little girl... why else would a teen concert be set up as the trap?
 

MigratingOsprey

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I can't say I've seen Hartnett in anything recently, but remember when he had his big moment and find him to be pretty awful - I think this looks interesting, but seems like it has all the elements to be meh
 

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I can't say I've seen Hartnett in anything recently, but remember when he had his big moment and find him to be pretty awful - I think this looks interesting, but seems like it has all the elements to be meh
He never really moved me one way or the other early in his career, but between his turn on last season’s Black Mirror and Oppenheimer, he’s had a pretty decent comeback tour in the last year as an older character actor.
 

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The marketing for this sure makes it look like he's the serial killer. Even moreso with the 2nd trailer.
I thought it was pretty clear that was the intent from the first trailer. They’re not hiding anything as a twist and Night has come out and said he pitched it as Silence Of The Lambs at a Taylor Swift concert.

If there is a twist at the end of the movie, I don’t think the shock is going to be he’s the killer… I just think that’s the hook as conceptually, this just looks like it’s a sell of the the “hero” of the story is the villain.
 

Brian in Mesa

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Trap

Release date: August 2, 2024
Studio: Blinding Edge Pictures
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violent content and brief strong language
Genre: Crime | Horror | Mystery

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill, Saleka Shyamalan, Kid Cudi, Ariel Donoghue, Tim Russ, Marnie McPhail, Vanessa Smythe, Jonathan Langdon

Plot Summary: A father and his teen daughter attend a pop concert only to realize they've entered the center of a dark and sinister event.

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Brian in Mesa

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M. Night's daughter Saleka is the singer at the concert in this film. She is a singer/songwriter in real life and wrote 14 songs for the film.
 

Cheesebeef

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I’m about 30 minutes into this and it is super silly. Entertaining… but very silly.
 

Cheesebeef

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Okay… this is one of the silliest movies I’ve seen in a very long time.
 

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If it’s a story told from the killer’s perspective, I think that’s pretty unique so I’m in to it.

As for your earlier question about where he keeps getting financing… I think he does a lot of self-financing… or at least he did with the Visit (which I loved) and Split (which I liked but had an amazing twist/surprise ending to recontexualize the world). Those were microbudget films he financed at 5-10 million, which then made really big money back (Visit made 98 mill worldwide/Split made 278 mill worldwide). And Glass was a pretty big success budgeted at something only like 30-40 million, making 250 mill worldwide. Old was also something like a 20 million budget that made 90 worldwide still somewhat early in pandemic times.

Knock At The Cabin was his first misfire at the box office in almost a decade, which is funny to me because I thought that was the most interesting of the recent bunch with a killer performance from Dave Bautista.

Overall though, I’m happy to see he keeps getting movies made. They might not be great, but he’s still one of the only guys making original feature films at this point and while my mileage may vary on them, conceptually he keeps doing different enough stuff to hold my attention compared to so many remakes and sequels.

But from a purely financial standpoint, by keeping his budgets low and getting great ROI, he’s been a smashing success after the incredible face-plant fall from grace following Lady In The Water, The Happening and After Earth. Those three movies have ZERO positive qualities, of any sort, be it from an imagination or box office standpoint.

The Last Airbender feels insulted that you left it out!
 

Cheesebeef

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Very silly and over the top, but as a “turn off your brain and grab some popcorn” flick I was entertained.
Oh, so was I. I had a ton of fun watching this.

It’s almost like if the Ruthless People Zucker Brothers tried to do Hitchcock.
 
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