A smiling, dad-dancing serial killer is not the first role you'd have in your head for Josh Hartnett - and that's exactly the reason why he should do it. Mission accepted, Hartnett makes the character of Cooper aka The Butcher his own in writer-director M Night Shyamalan's latest, billed as 'Purple Rain meets The Silence of the Lambs'.
Cooper arrives with daughter Riley (note-perfect newcomer Ariel Donoghue) at an afternoon arena concert by artist-of-the-moment Lady Raven (M Night Shyamalan's singer-songwriter daughter Saleka) and realises in no time that something is amiss. With one crucial new lead after a year of nothing, the FBI has set up a sting operation at the show, believing The Butcher is somewhere in the crowd. With doors locked and punters profiled, the cat-and-mouse countdown begins.
Shyamalan is one of those directors where you know what you're getting and don't know what you're getting, and fans of his work will more than likely get a kick out of Trap. It moves fast, keeps you hooked, and, cannily, has a 12A cert, so not only will a new generation discover the work of Shyamalan, they get to hear his daughter Saleka's music too - she wrote an original soundtrack for the thriller.
From the Hitchcock titles to the epilogue twist (but of course!), Trap continues a good run for Hartnett that has seen him on screen in Black Mirror, Oppenheimer, and The Bear. He brings charm and chills as someone pulling out all the stops to get away with murder, the audience wanting him to find a way out and still get caught.
Sure, Trap is far-fetched, but it's also a fun popcorn movie, the latest to pull off the greatest escape of the lot: the one where you forget all about the world outside for 90 minutes.
