mswseashore

I am a big M. Knight fan. Not all of his films compare to his masterpiece The Sixth Sense, but I am usually really entertained by his quirky scripts. The Village and Signs are two of my favorites. Trap seems to be a film in three acts. The first part was at the concert which was interesting as the usual script was flipped and instead of seeing how the killer was tracked, the audience witnessed the killer manipulating law enforcement. Critics complained that the film was a showcase for his daughter, ok but she is talented and she was a strong feature. The second act was a cat and mouse between the killer and singer and like Signs, there was some good tension. The third part was the weakest. It seemed he rushed the ending just to finish the film. It was really conventional and quite lame. I hope it wasn't a set up for a sequel. Of course being from Philadelphia, i enjoy the local back drop. Shout out to a really strong male lead who was super creepy at the same time as being a cool Dad. The paradox of human behavior on display.

What started out with an interesting premise quickly dissolved into a pseudo political commentary on present day America. Racial tension, conspiracy theories, the failure of commercial electric cars, dependency on electronics, anti-American global sentiment are just a fraction of this film's attempts to jam all modern problems into one catastrophic warning. It was exhausting and uneven despite the good cast especially Kevin Bacon who stole the show as the conservative survivalist. While people have been disappointed with the ending, I found it a bright spot in an otherwise dull attempt to duplicate the style of films such as Get Out. A tedious 2 hours and 20 minutes.

I have seen many films depicting Depression and this one is one of the most realistic and graphic. Holly can go through her day as mother, wife, teacher, and daughter being so detached that it literally swallows her whole. When people suffer mental illness, they not only hurt those around them as exemplified in car crash, the mouse, her sister, her sons and finally her husband but they are betrayed by those who don't intercede and provide real help. Asking " are you ok" or " I'm worried about you" doesn't hope to address the severity of this illness but mental illness makes people feel very uncomfortable.