Trap Conclusion & All Twists Described
Trap, the most recent thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, is a distinctive and engrossing psychological thriller with a pop soundtrack that is lively, a slow-burning premise, and the trademark turns that have made Shyamalan's storytelling famous. Josh Hartnett plays Cooper, a seemingly normal father who takes his daughter to see a pop megastar perform. Cooper is the main character of the movie. He has no idea that the concert is a masterfully set trap meant to apprehend a local serial killer.
The main action takes place in the arena, where Cooper deftly eludes police enforcement through a string of progressively brilliant—and lucky—escapes. The audience discovers that Cooper is, in fact, the serial killer.
Trap's Concert Receipt Revealed, Along with Rachel's Parting Message
After around an hour of suspense, Trap's story picks up speed. Cooper tells pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) who he really is and threatens to kill one of his hostages if she doesn't help him get out. After a series of devious moves, Lady Raven, Cooper, and his daughter return to Cooper's house, where she reveals his identity to his spouse, Rachel (Allison Pill), and kids.
Using the psychological profile that FBI profiler Dr. Josephine Grant (Haley Mills) provides, Lady Raven survives and eventually gets out from Cooper's clutches. But after a string of devious escapes and misdirections, Cooper eventually makes it back to his house, where he confronts Rachel after learning that she was involved in his abduction.
Lady Raven reveals that the police were able to set up the trap at her concert because the killer made a mistake and left evidence in the shape of a concert ticket stub, as she speaks openly about the serial killer, "The Butcher," with Rachel in front of Cooper. However, the whole truth is revealed in Cooper's last exchange with Rachel. Cooper's negligence prevented the arena trap from being found, even though the ticket receipt did point to it. Rachel substantiates Cooper's theory that she had been assembling his "other life" as a serial killer. Rachel broke in after following him to one of his safe places, leaving the ticket receipt for the police to discover. She didn't want to set up the arena trap, but she did want to track Cooper down because she had assumed he was the one responsible for his victims' deaths based on the smell of hospital cleaning solutions on his clothing.
How Cooper Escapes & Why He Stops for the Bike
Cooper pauses to fetch his daughter's bicycle from the front yard before being led away in handcuffs. As a sign of his psychopathic OCD and desire for order and control, he extends the kickstand. But until he is by himself in the back of the FBI transport van, he stealthily takes a spoke off the front wheel of the bicycle and hides it. He then releases himself from his restraints by using the spoke to pick the locks.
The Details Of Lady Raven's Scheme To Keep Spencer In The Trap
While Trap doesn't go as far into metaphors and concepts as some of M. Night Shyamalan's previous Movies, it does make some observations about how technology, especially cellphones, has affected humankind. It is established that Cooper used his phone to poison Spencer with carbon monoxide in addition to keeping an eye on him. This idea is undermined by Lady Raven, who uses a smartphone to assist Spencer in getting away.
The lyrics and song names from Saleka Shyamalan's (as Lady Raven) soundtrack for Trap are synced with the story. Some of the tracks on the list are "Liar," "Hiding," "Dead End," and "Pieces."
Lady Raven uses her enormous social media following to her advantage, channeling Taylor Swift in the part. She taps into the collective vision of her fans by going live on her social media accounts. She invites her fans to find Spencer's house after getting information from him regarding his whereabouts. Before Cooper can murder Spencer, a fan quickly recognizes the description and gets in touch with him.
An intriguing critique of our own dependence on these devices is provided by the disparities in the ways that smartphones are used in the movie. Lady Raven uses her phone to gather resources and reach a vast number of people in order to accomplish good, while Cooper uses his to injure someone. This captures the quandary that humanity faces on a daily basis as our reliance on smartphones and social media grows.
With What Did Rachel Poison Participate?
Rachel finds a jar of white powder after finding Cooper's serial killer emergency Go Bag, which he left in her car when he was about to kidnap Lady Raven. Based on how this powder affects Cooper, it can be concluded that it is Rohypnol (roofies) or a comparable substance. Ironically, Cooper's own serial killer strategy is used against him because he left the bag where Rachel could discover it, which opened the door for this unexpected turn of events.
Before the trap, did Cooper kill his mother?
Cooper continues to see hallucinations of his mother everywhere, so it does seem probable that he killed her before the events of Trap, even though the movie never says it outright. His early trauma and the punishment he endured as a young child are the main causes of his sociopathic inclinations. Because of how deeply embedded this trauma is, Lady Raven utilizes it to make Cooper feel uneasy as she is being held captive in Rachel's automobile. Dr. Grant is even aware of this trauma.
Cooper's bond with his mother makes one think of Norman Bates, implying that he most likely killed her at some point in the past. Given that he talks of the solace and tranquility he gets from murdering, this may have been the catalyst for his turn into a serial killer. He had one more hallucination of his mother while suffering from the poison in his pie. Then it is made clear that Dr. Grant is actually taking her place and controlling him as she was his mother.
How The End of Trap Preps Up A Follow-Up
By the time Trap closes, Cooper is laughing and out of his handcuffs in the back of the FBI transport van. He never runs out of alternatives because of his preparation, fast thinking, and generous helping of luck throughout the story. He only needs to figure out that there's always a way out for him. It's highly likely that he'll get out of the van and be able to kill additional people.
Dr. Grant and Cooper have a cat-and-mouse relationship in the movie that might be expanded upon in a follow-up. Cooper may establish himself somewhere else (perhaps via time travel) and carry on with his murderous activities, putting Dr. Grant back on his trail. His pursuit of Rachel could also be the subject of a follow-up, since in their final meeting he made it clear that he was angry with her. Because of his sociopathy and compulsive behaviors, he was able to direct his murderous impulses on Rachel.
The Meaning Behind Trap's Conclusion
Although it lacks deep metaphors, Trap provides a valid analysis of the masks people put on to conceal who they really are. The most prominent example is Cooper, who leads a covert existence as a vicious serial killer while feigning to be a loving husband and father. Even while the differences between most people aren't as great, it's uncommon for someone to be completely honest with the world, particularly in the day of social media and cellphones. Individuals curate a very public version of who they are.
Cooper claims that "everyone's in pieces," and that the way he dismembers defenseless individuals is an outpouring of his own brokenness upon them. His hatred of those "who think they're whole" is a result of his conviction that nobody is fully whole. His dissection of people who appear to be good, such as a young student engaged in sustainable agriculture or a teacher with a family, is a reflection of his own fractured personality. Trap's conclusion leaves room to delve deeper on this idea.
Under his Blinding Edge Pictures banner, M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed the movie Trap. He had an agreement with Warner Bros. to produce and direct a number of Movies under their umbrella, and this movie is a part of that.
