M. Night Shyamalan is back. What could be the twist this time…?

A father takes his daughter to a concert of her favourite singer/songwriter. But a heavy police presence is the first sign that the concert is a trap to catch a dangerous killer.

Straight off the bat, I am a little uncertain how to proceed. The trailer explicitly states something about this film which could be considered a huge spoiler? However IMDB’s synopsis does not mention it. Going into the film I had already seen the trailer and knew… the twist? So here’s your warning that this review is entirely spoilers after the next paragraph. If you haven’t seen the trailer, of course.

Sufficed to say, this is unlike the usual movies from director M. Night Shyamalan: It isn’t a spooky paranormal movie; It isn’t an outrageous thriller either; It is a surprisingly old-fashioned thriller, the sort you might expect in the early 90s. To some this might be a breath of fresh air, but to others it may be a deviation from what they have come to expect from the director.
It stars Josh Hartnett (Oppenheimer) and Ariel Donoghue in the lead roles, with Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven, the singer in this fictional concert. Overall, the film is alright. It escalates nicely, the later acts improving on a rather stilted beginning that’s full of hard-to-believe character moments. The setup feels forced with these cumbersome moments, but the payoff is tense and quite interesting.

Now to spoilers, I suppose.

The trailer clearly shows us that Josh Hartnett’s Cooper is, in fact, the killer that the trap was set for. The film follows his thinking processes in how to escape, despite this formidable net closing around him. A lot of stalking around, observing guards, doors, and locks. Plus, his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) is none the wiser to his identity. Cooper’s struggle with balancing his dual personas, but also escaping with both intact, is the heart of the movie.

It reminds audiences a little of television’s Dexter. We are following a definitely evil person, who does terrible things, but we are also given reason to support him. Cooper clearly has a family. He clearly cares and supports them. But here, M. Night Shyamalan has started to enter the realm of Rob Zombie’s ethos; sympathy for the devil. While Dexter is working to catch other criminals, Cooper is, rather simply, a killer with two lives. He commits terrible murders, and being caught is a means to ending them and perhaps some form of rehabilitation for him.

But to more objective issues with the movie. There are character moments that defy belief. Cooper is a serial killer who has been active for seven years. The police and FBI have no idea what he looks like, only that he is at the concert. There are several instances where staff and officers are just plain idiots. Ignoring the fact that concert staff would probably be replaced by undercover operatives, the staff worker Jamie (Jonathan Langdon) runs his mouth way more than any staffer would. This results in allowing Cooper to roam quite freely.
There are other instances were security is amazingly slack. For such severe circumstances, led by an FBI profiler who has debriefed everyone on the situation. Doors are conveniently not shut, allowing eavesdropping, guards don’t take him in for questioning when he is somewhere he shouldn’t be. This will probably drive some audiences mad.

But, Josh Hartnett plays the performance well. In fact, everyone does well in their given role. The pacing is strong, and seeing Shaymalan commit to a story that isn’t based entirely on a gimmick is refreshing. The final act comes a bit too late, but it is exciting. The film does, at its worst, feel like a missed opportunity for this premise; some refined writing in the moment-to-moment scenes could have erased some of the stupidity on show.

Do bear in mind that this trailer was the one I saw.