I think I figured it out. I think I solved the problem of M. Night Shyamalan. His latest film "Trap" has a lot to offer, with a thrilling premise and some terrific direction. Shyamalan is genuinely one of the best directors alive right now. However, he is a terrible, miserable writer.

Every effort that he puts forth from the director's chair is immediately undone by an insanely lackluster script. Characters behave abnormally and the entire plot rests on pure luck and the utter incompetence of law enforcement.

Furthermore, I don't think Shyamalan always does the best job at getting the best possible performances from his cast. Josh Hartnett is decent I suppose, and Ariel Donoghue portrays a celebrity-obsessed fangirl very well, but everyone else is aggressively average.

And finally, it became apparent that Shymalan's main goal (and I believe he admitted this already) was to spotlight his daughter's musical career. This became distractingly obvious as the first half of the film progressed. However, that was by far the most interest part of the film. The entire third act is messy, devoid of focus, and undoes so much of the tension that was built in the first two acts.

This is just another forgettable film in Shyamalan's catalog, but will hopefully get us closer to the next half-decent movie he'll make in a few years.