Trap
Warner Bros. | Release Date: August 2, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
26
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerAug 2, 2024
On one level, Shyamalan feels more comfortable than ever; Trap may cook more purely and entertainingly than anything in his last decade of self-styled pop hits. But it also suggests that there are discordant notes that he can’t, and probably shouldn’t, ever get out of his system. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyJordan HoffmanAug 2, 2024
I'd place it more alongside the enjoyable The Visit or Split, and, indeed, there are some story commonalities with both. It is, however, masterfully shot, with great use of wide angles, cropped frames, and a sense of foreboding inside and around the concert venue. Read full review
83
The Film StageNick NewmanAug 1, 2024
Even at a pace or two too long, while starting to coast on the pure rush of initial, stronger ideas, it’s perhaps his best-engineered work since The Village and arguably the purest piece of entertainment he’s ever made. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezAug 1, 2024
Shyamalan’s crafts a deceptively simple experience. The plot is rather ingeniously straightforward, at first, but the fraught journey of a father and killer trying not to upend and upset the carefully constructed delusional fabrication of his life—and how the two identities crash into each other on one fateful day— is exhilaratingly multifaceted. Read full review
80
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 1, 2024
Doesn’t have the depth of Shyamalan’s most important films or the theatricality of his most memorably weird experiments. But it’s one of his best thrillers. Read full review
75
IndieWireRyan LattanzioAug 2, 2024
Hartnett is in on the joke, going against the type he was pigeonholed into by Hollywood as a teen matinee idol who won our hearts and other body parts in “The Virgin Suicides” as too-cool boy-next-door Trip Fontaine, or as a self-induced sexual ascetic in “40 Days and 40 Nights.” Read full review
75
The Daily BeastNick SchagerAug 1, 2024
As a pulpy game of cat-and-mouse, however, it provides enough thrills to compensate for its illogicalities, and in Josh Harnett, it boasts a star adept at locating the fiendishness in fatherhood. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerAug 5, 2024
Trap is a sturdy and fun little thriller despite its third act stumbles; a lean, simple story that taps into what one could glean is Shyamalan’s fear of being a bad father to his own daughters. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreAug 2, 2024
It works so much better than should be possible because of Hartnett, who gets a showcase on par with the one the filmmaker gave to James McAvoy in Split. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredCharlotte SimmonsAug 2, 2024
In a wonderful turn of events, M. Night Shyamalan has finally made a movie worthy of M. Night Shyamalan's prestige. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushMatt SingerAug 2, 2024
Back in the day, the endless comparisons between Shyamalan and Hitchcock felt like a bit of a trap themselves. With Trap, though, there’s no point trying to escape them. Read full review
70
LooperAudrey FoxAug 2, 2024
Although it falls apart slightly in the third act (a treat the director is unfortunately unable to shake here), a tense narrative and unsettling performance from Josh Hartnett makes Trap a delightful late summer thriller. Read full review
63
The Associated PressLindsey BahrAug 1, 2024
This is a popcorn movie, with a surprising turn from an underrated star. And ultimately, it’s a pretty fun time at the theater. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 1, 2024
Trap too often lacks the craftsmanship it needs to crackle with energy and tension. Despite these missteps, Josh Hartnett almost makes “Trap” worth seeing, imbuing his character with a playfulness that can be captivating. It’s just a shame his great work sometimes feels trapped in a movie that doesn’t know what to do with it. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyAug 9, 2024
The fact that Trap is 100 per cent ridiculous – like, off-the-chain barking mad, from the moment the plot kicks in – doesn’t stop it being a funfair ride that’s worth a spin. Read full review
60
Little White LiesHannah StrongAug 9, 2024
Although he’s no stranger to IP-based films (his last two were adaptations) Trap is a reminder that Shyamalan is one of the few A-List directors who still seems dedicated to original storytelling, and even when the scripts don’t quite fully deliver on their elaborate premises, his knack for creating interesting characters and casting the right actors to play them picks up the slack. Read full review
60
Total FilmKen McIntyreAug 7, 2024
Granted, the Lady Raven sequences go on for a bit too long - M. Night is clearly enamored with his daughter’s talent as a pop singer - but other than that minor indulgence, this is a taught thriller that slowly ties a rope around Hartnett’s throat and squeezes as the gig rolls on. Read full review
60
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonAug 5, 2024
Despite being flawed, though, Trap is thrilling at times and a ridiculous display of human behavior at others. Read full review
60
IGNEric GoldmanAug 5, 2024
Josh Hartnett anchors Trap with a great performance as a serial killer penned in at a pop concert, but M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film falls apart in its third act. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 5, 2024
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. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 5, 2024
Trap is… well, you wouldn’t say it’s good...It is undeniably camp, however, and we look forward to attending one of those midnight reclamation-revival screenings à la Showgirls, where everyone screams the dialogue and dresses like Hartnett’s normcore Norman Bates, a decade from now. Read full review
60
The New YorkerRichard BrodyAug 5, 2024
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. Read full review
60
SlashfilmJeremy MathaiAug 1, 2024
When the film quite literally runs out of plot, only the filmmaker's sheer determination and commitment to the bit manage to salvage an ending that throws logic and reason out the door several times over. Read full review
58
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerAug 2, 2024
Trap does have one brilliant touch: At its best, Shyamalan has given us a perfect portrait of the power of straight white male privilege. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeAug 5, 2024
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. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 5, 2024
Good, bad or middling, very little of Shyamalan’s works can be described as tightly plotted, well-sprung suspense. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 5, 2024
There aren’t really game-changing shocks here so much as detours. Shyamalan takes what your non-serial-killer father might call the scenic route. The destination? Meh. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJustin ClarkAug 2, 2024
M. Night Shyamalan’s stylish thriller is schizophrenic in more ways than one. Read full review
50
Washington PostThomas FloydAug 2, 2024
If you sit back and enjoy its mindless rhythms, you might have a good time. Just don’t try mining the lyrics for meaning. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonAug 2, 2024
The bigger the scope and the more Cooper’s psychology is explained, the less taut the film feels. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 2, 2024
Shyamalan and Hartnett struggle to fashion a convincingly layered murderer whose mental unravelling and inner anguish are sufficiently captivating. Instead, the performance is a muddled melding of serial-killer types audiences have seen before. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 1, 2024
Trap is a well-crafted shell with nothing inside. Read full review
50
ColliderRoss BonaimeAug 1, 2024
Trap is another promising thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, but his filmmaking choices simply can't do this conceit justice. Read full review
42
PolygonKayti BurtAug 9, 2024
As the film stands — it’s a fun but halfhearted execution of a killer concept, relying more on sentiment than suspense — it’s just a mild bummer to find out so soon. Read full review
42
Original-CinJim SlotekAug 2, 2024
Trap is simply M. Night Shyamalan’s silliest movie since The Happening. Read full review
40
EmpireDan JolinAug 12, 2024
An initially cool premise that goes nowhere interesting as it heads off somewhere else too quickly. Hartnett does his best, but director Shyamalan seems more interested in trying to convince us of his daughter’s pop-star credentials. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeAug 2, 2024
Trap is a thriller that incorrectly thinks it’s fiendishly smart. Maybe if it was more aware of how stupid it actually is, it might have been a lot more fun. Read full review
40
Vanity FairRichard LawsonAug 2, 2024
Shyamalan can’t settle on a tone; he turns the comedy and tension and drama knobs seemingly at random. Trap is jumble of moods and textures that never cohere into the taught little thriller that the trailers advertise. The film is instead paunchy and meandering, a slog of pat psychology and limp cultural analysis. Read full review
40
Film ThreatAlan NgAug 2, 2024
While the setup is intriguing, the film quickly loses steam, becoming a muddled chase interspersed with concert footage. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 1, 2024
Asking an audience to go with something this fundamentally farfetched borders on an insult. More to the point: It’s not fun. Read full review
38
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenAug 4, 2024
Hitchcock diluted by De Palma diluted by mid-tier M. Night Shyamalan leaves you with, well, bottom-tier Shyamalan. Read full review
38
ObserverDylan RothAug 2, 2024
Shyamalan knows what his thing is, he knows we know, and in a charming way, he doesn’t seem to care. His latest film, Trap, might leave some viewers rolling their eyes, but those acclimatized to his brand of weird will forgive the flaws the way they do their dad’s corny jokes. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 2, 2024
An expertly shot and edited thriller built around a cringey/creepy performance by Josh Hartnett is undone by an indulgent father trying to make a pop starlet/actress out of his daughter in Trap, the latest from M. Night Shyamalan. Read full review
35
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeAug 2, 2024
Usually, the architecture of a thriller involves introducing a complicated scenario and then slowly but surely ratcheting up the tension; with Trap, Shyamalan has chosen to set it and forget it, spelling out the circumstances of the titular snare and then rarely bothering to introduce new elements or to elevate the suspense. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 2, 2024
Trap is a house of cards built on a bed of sand in the middle of a hurricane. It flies apart and collapses almost immediately and the various plot threads are so thoroughly ripped to shreds that there’s nothing left at the end but the wreckage of a movie and the recognition that 105 precious minutes have been stolen. Read full review
25
ABC NewsPeter TraversAug 2, 2024
Josh Hartnett does his best playing a serial killer and devoted dad living in the same body. But you don’t need a sixth sense to know that director M. Knight Shyamalan is running on empty as his patchwork thriller slips from disappointment to disaster. Read full review
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