It’s hard moonlighting between your profession and passion in this economy. Ask Coop (Josh Hartnett; “Oppenheimer,” 2023), the protagonist of writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s (“Knock at the Cabin,” 2023) latest psychological thriller “Trap;” he’s got dual full-time jobs of being a firefighter and a family man, but the man is also trying his best to live his dream: being a successful serial killer. There’s just a teensy problem: the concert he’s taken his daughter to has been created out of thin air specifically to catch him, and he’s gotta think on his feet to find a way through this labyrinthine maze set up by the FBI while also trying his best to hold onto the simple life he cherishes the most.

If you’re a fan of M. Night Shyamalan’s carefully crafted chaos, you’ve already strapped yourself in for a wild ride, and the director doesn’t disappoint. Along with the diabolically good Hartnett, the man takes his viewers through every single emotion the leading man has ever felt—mania, peace and quiet, the awkward-dad energy, and pure, unbridled fear—and puts together a narrative that continues to keep you guessing. Throw in the texture that is Shyamalan’s daughter and singer-songwriter Saleka—her singles are phenomenal and worthy of their own “Trap” themed concert tour live onstage.

Visually, the film stuns; cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (“Challengers,” 2024) brings in the extra oomph by shooting “Trap” entirely on 35mm film, forming a sensational confluence of modern and classic-thriller aesthetic. Much like “Dial M For Murder” (1954) and the Japanese manga series “Death Note” (2003-2006), we’re not really bothered about the identity of the perpetrator—the narrative makes it clear relatively early, of course. Instead, we’re morbidly curious about the why or the what-next of it all. How will they dodge the danger of being found out? How far will they go? How far will the writers take the narrative? That’s the kind of bite this inversion usually rests on.

Shyamalan, for his part, manages to make two-thirds of this tightly wound cat-and-mouse chase some of the most stress-inducing, simultaneously injecting the perfect balance of levity between Saleka’s foot-tapping musical assortment as Lady Raven for the in-film concert and knockout supporting performances from Jonathan Langdon (“Buffaloed,” 2019)—the affable T-shirt vendor—and (as is usual) the director himself, in an adorable cameo as Lady Raven’s uncle in the film’s midpoint. 

When “Trap” steps out of the concert, the narrative tension breaks the dials and swings for the fences, focusing more on Lady Raven, who’s turned from world-building to a crucial piece of the puzzle herself. Saleka is simultaneously the scream queen and a massive subversion of its archetypes, and for her first film, pulls it off rather effortlessly. Saleka isn’t the only one, though—women really take the reins of the movie in the final act, from Alison Pill (“Miss Sloane,” 2016), who essays Cooper’s unsuspectingly meek wife, and Hayley Mills (“The Parent Trap,” 1961) as FBI Profiler Dr. Josephine Grant, all of whom bring their A-game to a story that gets increasingly twisty by the second.

Of course, we still have to address the elephant in the room: does it work? Much like our relationship with most media, where you stand on the film depends on your vibe with Shyamalan’s storytelling bite and off-kilter aesthetic. To this writer, “Trap” rules. It’s got a fantastic leading performance by Josh Hartnett, Mukdeeprom’s gorgeously textured framing, Saleka’s incredible music, and a singular, tightly-wound narrative by its writer-director that seems to be having a blast toying with classic antihero storytelling archetypes to form a deliciously dark tragedy of a leading man who needs to save his family and his carefully crafted world with the people he cares about from his greatest threat: himself.

“Trap” is a phenomenally filmed psychological thriller that’s equal parts tragic character study, concert film, and inverse detective story neatly rolled into one fantastic joint. It’s a fun remix of Hitchcockian antihero mysteries and a sumptuous exploration of the cat-and-mouse chase from the internally volatile perspective of a serial killer. Highly recommended.