I saw Trap

Trap is writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's latest. It's gotten lots of buzz because of its dynamic trailers, which depict a father and daughter attending a Britney Spears-ish concert surrounded by police due to a serial killer reputedly in the stadium. It appears the dad might, in fact, be the killer, the Butcher, but then, hey, this is a Shyamalan movie. There's got to be a catch, and there is, though maybe more of a few clever, twisty turns, but I'm not gonna ruin any of it. 

It's Shyamalan's execution that makes this one thrive. If one believes that the father, played by Josh (30 Days of Night/Penny Dreadful) Hartnett, is truly the Butcher (and there's every bloody indication to believe he is), one must invest in his sly antics and therefore, embrace his desperate journey. Think of it along the lines of Norman Bates covering up Mother's deeds. As we watch, we find ourselves rooting for the antagonist. It's a peculiar angle, but in the realm of sinister make-believe, it does work.  

Hartnett is damn good in his role and has to be, since his character occupies most of the feature. For the record, this isn't Hartnett's first, serial-killer rodeo. He costarred in Halloween H20, but unlike his supporting spot in that Michael Myers, alternate sequel, Hartnett's Cooper (he only goes by one name) pushes Shyamalan's escapade with full-throttle beads on the brow. Harnett does this by implementing a careful duality, with one front performing as the gracious father to Ariel (Wolf Like Me) Donohue's chipper Riley, and on the other front, zigzagging about as three hundred police close in. 

The rest of the cast complements its leads well, with appearances by Alison Pill, Lochlan Miller, Marnie McPhail, Vanessa Smythe, Jonathan Langdon, Kid Cudi, Parker Wayne, Joseph Daily, the immutable Hayley Mills of Parent Trap fame (get the nod?) as a high-profile profiler, Mr. Shyamalan as Lady Raven's amiable uncle and Saleka Shyamalan as the Lady Raven. (Saleka is, in fact, M. Night's real-life daughter and an actual R&B singer outside her portrayal of the featured, pop sensation. To boot, Saleka's Lady Raven, performance segments are nothing short of gosh-darn exquisite, and fourteen of the melodious tunes were written by her. I mean, damn!)

Though Trap's conceptualization isn't by a stretch run-of-the-mill, its suspense mimics the nail-biting escalation of Breakdown, Dying Room Only, Running Time, Ransom, Rope and either version of The Man Who Knew Too Much. If one accepts Hartnett as the veritable killer, then it's arguable that the story is as much a high-adrenalin Columbo, though devoid of an equivalent interrogator.   

I found Trap to be magnetic, mesmerizing and huge fun. Once it has you by the throat (and rest assured, it will), you'll definitely feel trapped, though in the most, entertained way. 😁 

I saw Old...

M. Night Shyamalan's Old is like other productions by the writer/director: Twilight Zone-ish. That means it's experimental, outside the mainstream.  

The story (based on a novel by Pierre Oscar-Levy and Frederick Peeters) deals with the Cappa family (Gael Garcia Bernal as the dad, Vicky Krieps as the mom, Thomasin McKenzie/Embeth Daviditz as the sister and Alex Wolf/Emun Elliott as the brother) on an island holiday, immersed in the beach's alluring minerals. It's all nice and simple at first, but circumstances soon go awry, with the advent of a young woman's corpse. As the clan (and other vacationers) ponder her cause of death, they grow older in a stark, visible way, to the point where it becomes clear they'll perish within a day. 

As one might infer, Old is a symbolic/compact journey in the James Joyce's Ulysses vein, but served as a weird, thought-provoking Shyamalan/Zone parable: profound but frightful in its mysterious ramifications.  

Seizing all that life can offer when there's so little time to live is the movie's motif. This thought-provoking angle even references Star Trek's "the Deadly Years": One hopes to reverse the accelerating disease, but all one can do is see it through. As in real life, one does one's best to rationalize the ongoing damage, even though it's impossible to avert the outcome. (BTW: An explanation as to why the folks age so rapidly does surface, more or less, and yes, it does graze upon pandemic paranoia. Perfect timing, eh?) 

There are times, however, when the tale adapts a meandering stream (if only to throw one off), rather like Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, but as with the latter, Old's performers keep the offbeat atmosphere in check, drawing the necessary empathy to make the surprises crisp and memorable. (Supporting cast members Aaron Pierre, Rufus Sewell, Kathleen Chalfant, Abbey Lee {who incidentally looks amazing in a bikini}, Eliza Scanlan, Ken Leung, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Gustaf Hammarston {an ersatz Mr. Rourke}are also convincing throughout the fretful venture.) With this said, Old does, indeed, mirror the stories of Rod Serling and company, in which fanciful fiction becomes credible because the characters are worthy of identification. 

There are many decent imagi-movies now in circulation, but most abide by established formulas: stuff we know like the back of our hands. Old isn't original on all counts, but still impressive for the way it manipulates its variables. That's not an easy task to achieve, and Shyamalan deserves credit for attempting what most are too timid (or limited) to essay. 

I saw Glass...

That "Unbreakable" and "Split" should blend isn't a stretch. Their link has long been on the wall of writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's cinematic universe, and in this time of live-action, DC/Marvel crossovers, why not a dexterous, subdued variation: a superhero fable filtered through the character-driven irony of "The Twilight Zone"?

With "Glass", named after Samuel L. Jackson's "Unbreakable" trickster, otherwise known as bone-fragile Elijah Price, our crafty filmmaker presents not only the flamboyant, titular terrorist, but Willis' sometimes hooded, though always valiant David Dunn. There's also James McAvoy's dangerous and anguished Kevin Wendell Crumb, abetted by a Horde of ready-to-rise personalities. These characters ultimately connect at Raven Hill Memorial Hospital, probed for a "cure" of their "alleged" abilities, but no matter what motions their psychologist, Ellie Staple (Sarah "American Horror Story" Paulson) takes, the three are destined to keep different yet overlapping goals.

As a result of their fated teaming, the conniving Mister Glass provokes Wendell's inner Beast, realizing that once this impetuous personality has been sprung, a major revelation will come to the world. As part of this unraveling plot, Dunn must squash Wendell's monstrous portion, but it won't be easy with Shyamalan's ingenious, signature foils. 

It's not just the writer/director's well crafted concept that makes the movie's heart pound, but its consummate leads: each established in previous chapters, but now like fine wine, richer...more matured. Their interactions resonate with urgency and sincerity, even when projected beyond their scope. In fact, the results of their clashing efforts fall right into the lap of "Split'"s Anya Taylor-Joy's Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy); Dunn's son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) and Price's mom (Charlayne Woodard): for all intents and purposes, sidekicks to accompany the principals' weird, epic journey. 

Like other Shyamalan productions, this one chases the truth, which makes it a morality tale, but then aren't all superhero stories? Shyamalan knows the good-vs-evil deal better than most: how the tipping of the scales can impact lives, whether on a glossy, Hollywood stage or in everyday life. "Glass" emanates from the former, but prospers in the latter, reminding us that the causes of right and wrong, of courage and fear, dwell within the most common crevasses: "Twilight Zone"-ish, indeed. 

To further its intent, "Glass" demonstrates that despite what the story's secret-society scholars proclaim, heroes can rise from out any villainous pit: that no matter how horrid the actions, there's always a helping hand (whether plebeian or preternatural) to right the wrong and reassemble the shards. We only need open our eyes to see the evidence, to accept the truth, which is as clear as glass when we at last focus. In other words, "Glass" helps us see the world through a clear, logical lens, even if that lens hangs upside down.  

"Glass" will be recalled by most for its clever, identifiable delivery. Granted, we've swallowed the movie's concept many times over, but it's been rarely served with as much labyrinthine sophistication or seasoned uber-humanity.