Trap ★★

“DADDY. You think I’m a really good singer, don’t you?”

“Of course I do sweetheart.”

“And you think that I could have a really good career?”

“Of course I do.”

“If only I could get noticed by a lot of people; then they would think the same thing and I would be famous.”

“Maybe I could feature you singing in one of my movies.”

“Wow, that’s a great idea. And I could act as well, because I’m sure I would be good at that too.”

‘I’ll base the film around a concert by a character that you will play and that way we can feature you doing lots of songs.”

“Thank you, Daddy. You’re so smart to know how great I am.”

Who knows if that was a discussion between director M. Night Shyamalan and his daughter Saleka Night while developing his latest film Trap.

But I would not be surprised, because the result is a lacklustre thriller with plenty of lags for Saleka to showcase her singing and dancing talents.

But not content to leave it there, Shyamalan also gives her character a key role off-stage and into the final act.

Suspension of disbelief is required throughout this film as Josh Hartnett’s serial-killer takes his daughter to a concert, not realising the police know he will be there.

For some inexplicable reason Hayley Mills is cast in the film as an FBI profiling expert who also seems to be running the entire operation.

I’m not going to get into all the other plot holes; suffice to say the questions will mount up in your head at a frustrating pace.

The climax has some decent moments and, throughout all the incredulity of the plot, Hartnett remains watchable, but that’s about it for highlights I’m afraid.

When M. Night Shyamalan is in good form, he gives us intelligent, twisty crowd-pleasing thrillers like The Sixth Sense, The Village, Signs and Split.

But when he’s not in good form, which is unfortunately becoming more often than not, we get stuff like Trap.

Watched on Apple TV.