It seems like the perfect father-and-daughter date.
Cooper Adams and his adolescent daughter, Riley, have floor seats for a sold-out arena concert featuring pop princess Lady Raven. Riley is in bliss; she’s singing and swaying to every song and looks like she’s about to spontaneously combust with excitement. Cooper clearly deserves Dad of the Year honors for not only scoring the tickets but cheerfully accompanying his daughter to share the experience.
So why, as they watch Lady Raven perform, is Cooper’s eye twitching?
A) Because Cooper is secretly a psycho serial killer.
B) Because he knows the concert is a trap to nab him.
C) Because he’s desperate to find a way to escape.
D) Because he’s a middle-aged guy surrounded by tweenage and teenage girls squealing with insane delight over a generic pop performance.
E) All of the above.
My best guess is E, though whether you agree with the inclusion of D will probably depend on your age and/or whether you consider Taylor Swift a musical genius.
Josh Hartnett plays a disturbed dad in “Trap.”
Cooper’s situation plays out in writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap” (PG-13, 105 minutes), which turns out to be part-thriller, part-concert movie and, on the whole, just OK.
Josh Hartnett delivers strong, convincing work as Cooper, a sick human being, known as “The Butcher,” who appears to others as a doting dad and all-around good guy. Ariel Donoghue, 14 in real life, plays Riley; Alison Pill plays Cooper’s wife, Rachel; Hayley Mills (!) has a small role as a criminal profiler on Cooper’s trail; and Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, a pop singer in real life who proves here she can also act, plays Lady Raven.
Though the story takes some far-fetched turns, overall it is fairly simple: Cooper and Riley go to the concert, Cooper realizes it’s a trap, Cooper tries to escape, etc. Hartnett’s twisted persona enhances the proceedings, there are a few bits of welcome comic relief, and the film does, to its credit, leave us wondering whether a sadistic killer can truly love his daughter, or anyone, for that matter.
The film, which director Shyamalan reportedly said was in part inspired by pop superstar Swift, also serves as a showcase for his daughter, and in that regard it succeeds. Saleka Shy
amalan has a nice voice and, based on her Lady Raven, an engaging stage presence. I won’t be rushing out to buy her CDs or catching her shows, but, then again, I’m not her intended audience. If I were in Cooper’s shoes at the concert, serial killer or not, my eye would probably be twitching, too. **½ (out of four)
** Click here for Tim Miller’s previous movie columns for Cape Cod Wave **
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Tim Miller
Tim Miller is co-president of the Boston Society of Film Critics and a Tomatometer-approved critic. He teaches film and journalism at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or follow him onTwitter @TimMillerCritic. Or you can ignore him completely.
