TRAP

Let's be honest about the tension in this one. As a piece of filmmaking, TRAP is superb — four stars' worth of craft, a knockout lead performance, and a script that keeps upending you. If we graded only on skill, we'd be raving.

But we don't grade only on skill. This is an intense, sometimes full-on frightening serial-killer thriller, and its ending is the problem. The story alternates between some genuinely nice moral resolutions — even a beautiful moment of redemption for one character — and a surprisingly dark final twist that shows evil winning. That turn is what tips a brilliantly made movie into something we can't send you toward.

So here's the practical answer: however impressive the craftsmanship, the frightening content and that bleak closing note earn a skip. Save your evening for something that pays off the way this one refuses to.

Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is a seemingly nice, seemingly perfect suburban dad. He takes his tween daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), to see her favorite pop singer, Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan), in concert.

Then he notices the arena is swarming with police and FBI agents. They've locked the whole concert down — an elaborate trap to catch a brutal serial killer called "The Butcher." From that premise, M. Night Shyamalan builds a nail-biting battle of wits inside a packed venue. Where it goes, and how, is best left for the theater.

Four stars, and they're earned. Shyamalan flips his own formula: instead of saving the twist for the end, he plays a huge card just fifteen minutes in, then unleashes at least a dozen more surprises, each one yanking the rug out again. Some may feel far-fetched in the moment, but stunning third-act revelations pull it all together.

Josh Hartnett delivers what may be the best role of his career, crossing between sweet family man and psychopath with ease — his too-large grin and gee-whiz act supply some clever dark humor. Saleka Shyamalan, in what could have been mere nepotism, gives a smart, compassionate turn that keeps the movie strong. The pop songs genuinely sound radio-ready. The only real drag: two concert sequences that run about five minutes too long apiece. The intensity overcomes them.

TRAP holds a mixed worldview, and the mix is the whole issue. On one side, the film honors real good: police and others heroically labor to stop a serial killer, and there's a beautifully done moment of redemption for a side character. Those are threads any Christian viewer can recognize and welcome — courage spent to protect the innocent, and mercy reaching a soul that seemed beyond it.

On the other side sits the ending. Without giving it away, the movie's final twist is surprisingly dark, showing bad forces winning at the last. After all the moral resolutions it offers along the way, that closing note leaves the film feeling slightly excessive — a story that had every chance to land on the side of justice and chose the shadows instead.

At its center is a man living a double life, deceiving his wife and children for years while hiding what he really is. Scripture has no illusions about how such secrecy ends: "For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light" (Luke 8:17). A story that lets the dark win the last word forgets that, in the end, nothing stays hidden — and light, not shadow, gets the final say.

There's no denying the skill here — Hartnett is remarkable, and Shyamalan builds tension like few others. But a brilliantly made thriller that ends by handing victory to the darkness is still a place we won't send you. So our answer stands: skip it. Looking for something to enjoy together instead? Try our latest family-friendly picks.