Trap Review: M Night Shyamalan’s Serial Killer-At-A-Pop-Concert Thriller Is Really, Really Ridiculous

Trap (PG13)

Starring Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills

Directed by M Night Shyamalan

Psycho meets Taylor Swift! That’s the high-concept premise of Shyamalan’s latest thriller, starring Hartnett as a serial killer — imagine Norman Bates by way of a family man — who is the subject of a police dragnet at a pop concert (Saleka, the director’s daughter, plays the Lady Gaga-meet-Tay Tay surrogate, Lady Raven). The story starts off on an intriguing note but not before stumbling its way through a series of mind-boggling plot holes (let’s face it, both the script and the sting operation aren’t properly thought out) and swerving into a more exciting (or preposterous, depending on what you had for breakfast) third act that feels like it’s grafted from another movie. Crap might have been a better title. Save this one for HBO Go.   (2/5 stars) out in cinemas

Photo: Warner Bros

Borderlands (PG13)

Starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black, Florian Munteanu, Edgar Ramirez, Adriana Greenblatt

Directed by Eli Roth

Borderlands is borderline disastrous, which is a weird thing to say considering the top-tier talents involved (Roth, WTF?!) in this joyless adaptation of the eponymous shooter game. This intergalactic adventure sees a ragtag team of oddballs — led by an enigmatic gunslinger (a miscast Blanchett, struggling to channel Snake Plissken’s badassery) — battling a corporate behemoth over an ancient alien treasure. The jokes are flat, the action sequences dull, the movie (probably) matters more to devotees of the source material; others, however, might write this off as a Guardians of the Galaxy rip-off — and a sad reminder why video-game movies suck ass. (1.5/5 stars) out in cinemas

Photo: Lionsgate/Encore Films