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"The home of unlawful social media piracy."

That's what some of the biggest football leagues in the world are calling Elon Musk's X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in a letter obtained by the Associated Press.

The letter from soccer leagues like Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, and Serie A, which was sent to X CEO Linda Yaccarino, demands that the company take more action against copyrighted content being illegally published on the platform.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk spreads doctored Kamala Harris campaign video on X

Since Elon Musk took over X, then known as Twitter, in October 2022, pirated content has run rampant. Almost immediately after Musk's acquisition, users began sharing full-length films from major companies with little-to-no oversight. The company seemingly made matters worse by rolling out new updates and features, like the ability to upload longer videos, that seemed to further enable the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content.

The football world calls out X

Along with the Premier League and LaLiga, the letter to X was also signed by major soccer governing bodies like UEFA and CONMEBOL. 

Potentially even more concerning for X is the fact that networks and platforms that air the leagues' games signed the letter too. Companies like DIRECTV, Sky, Movistar Plus+, beIN, and DAZN – all of which signed the letter – have distribution rights to a variety of sports, not to mention entertainment events and shows, in addition to soccer.

In the letter, these organizations specifically call out X for its "persistent failings" in moderating unlawful distribution of copyrighted material. The letter makes it clear that this problem is unique to the platform since Musk's acquisition.

"X’s approach to taking down unlawful live content notified to them is woefully insufficient and inadequate," reads the letter sent to Musk, Yaccarino, and X. "This makes our respective intensive efforts to tackle this problem hugely inefficient. Critically, since you acquired the platform, we have witnessed a demoralizing reduction in technical support making it ever more difficult to engage with the platform in any kind of meaningful discussion on this topic."

The letter mentions how X under Musk has severely lacked in providing support for these companies, an issue the letter says has been exacerbated by the fact that X's content moderation resources were recently decreased by 20 percent. The letter also says that X "lacks many of the features which other responsible social media operators deploy to combat piracy.”

All of these issues combined have resulted in "an increased perception among pirates that they can do as they wish on X with impunity," according to the letter, which provides examples of illegal live streams being broadcast on X. 

Mashable noticed such livestreams spreading on X during the recent 2024 Copa América and Euros tournaments as well, and monitored some of these streams. These streams were rarely taken down on X. When one was removed, often a new feed would just be shared in its place.

Mashable has reached out to X about these streams, and the others mentioned in the letter, and will update if we hear back.

Will this affect X's sports dominance?

X has lost users from various online communities to competitor platforms like Threads and Bluesky over the past few years.

However, one user base that's continued to hold strong on X are sports fans. 

X is still the place for real-time discussion of the biggest games and matches on social media. Because X is where the fans are, many sports leagues and teams have remained active on the platform. Right now, for example, X is filled with not only Olympics-related content but also paid advertising from the networks currently airing the 2024 summer games in Paris.

However, X's relationship with sports leagues and broadcasters could certainly be affected by the company's blasé response to the publication of pirated content. X is already very familiar with advertiser boycotts as a result of Musk's leadership or even his own behavior. 

The leagues and organizations behind the letter sent to X says that they "urgently call for a meeting with X’s representatives to address this unacceptable situation."

Porn site BangBros has allegedly exposed user and model information, cyber security site Cybernews reported.

In June, the research team at Cybernews discovered more than eight gigabytes of sensitive information about BangBros users. This information included IP addresses, usernames, messages, countries and geolocations, and model names, ages, and descriptions.

SEE ALSO: Should I use a VPN to watch porn?

"Although the credentials were not leaked directly, hackers can associate the IP addresses with the identity from other leaks," explained Cybernews information security researcher Mantas Kasiliauskis in its reporting.

The sensitive information had been stored on an unprotected instance of Elasticsearch, a searchable distributed document storage system typically used for high-volume data. The largest file of the leak contained nearly 11 million records. Cybernews researchers claim this data was likely left unprotected because of an "inadvertent configuration error."

Cybernews contacted BangBros, and the error was fixed. According to Cybernews, however, there's still a risk to users if adversaries accessed the data.

"If bad actors managed to get their hands on this data, they might trace and link adult content viewers' habits to specific individuals," Kasiliauskis said. "Combined with other private information, this could lead to significant privacy issues, cause personal embarrassment, and result in social stigma in places with conservative attitudes."

Mashable has reached out to BangBros for comment and will update if we hear back.

Big technology companies show no signs of slowing their spending on artificial intelligence, even though a payoff still looks a long way away.

Lawyers for Tesla have asked a Delaware judge to reverse her decision to void a multibillion-dollar pay package for Mr. Musk after shareholders approved it a second time in June.

A new fight has popped up in the ongoing battle between TikTok and the U.S. government, but this time, it's about children's online privacy.

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, alleging that the social media platform violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by allowing children to create accounts and interact with adults — and collecting and retaining their data without getting consent from their guardians. COPPA, which was passed over two decades ago, requires social media platforms and other websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13. In response, most social media platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat — simply don't allow anyone under 13 to make an account. TikTok, on the other hand, offers a view-only experience for children under 13.

SEE ALSO: Here's how the TikTok ban will likely play out in the courts

"This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control," Brian M. Boynton, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, told the Associated Press in a statement.

This comes after the FTC sued Musical.ly, the app that would later become TikTok, for violating COPPA in 2019, the AP reported; Musical.ly paid $5.7 million to resolve the allegations at the time.

"TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country," FTC Chair Lina Khan said, according to NBC News. "The FTC will continue to use the full scope of its authorities to protect children online — especially as firms deploy increasingly sophisticated digital tools to surveil kids and profit from their data."

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable.

Simone Biles dunked on Donald Trump, and it didn't take long for LeBron James to join in.

Some context: Biles, the undisputed gymnastics GOAT, won the all-around gold in women's artistic gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday. This followed Team USA gold earlier in the week. All that winning — and likely more to come in individual events — elevated Biles to a standing all her own in modern artistic gymnastics.

SEE ALSO: How women’s gymnastics is scored at the Olympics, and how Simone Biles pushes those boundaries

In the wake of the golds, Biles took a pretty clear jab at former President Donald Trump. Ricky Davila posted on X: "Simone Biles being the GOAT, winning Gold medals and dominating gymnastics is her black job." That was a reference to Trump saying migrants were "taking Black jobs."

Biles quote-tweeted Davila, saying, "I love my black job."

Tweet may have been deleted

It was a quick shot at Trump after his comments at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention, and apparently, James approved. He quote-tweeted Biles with "Black [goat emoji]."

Tweet may have been deleted

James, who some folks argue is the basketball GOAT, has taken a shot at Trump on Twitter before, calling him "U bum" back in 2017. Biles, meanwhile, has clearly made it a point to enjoy the Paris Olympics her way after getting lots of hate following her decision to withdraw from the 2021 Tokyo Games due to "the twisties." She previously went out of her way to shade her former teammate MyKayla Skinner, who had questioned the talent and dedication of Team USA.

So look out world: Simone Biles is not just winning golds, she's settling scores.

AI music startup Suno has admitted that its AI model is trained on copyrighted music, but insists it's legally protected by the fair use doctrine.

On Thursday, Suno fleshed out this argument in a legal filing responding to a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America on June 24. RIAA, which represents major record labels Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, is suing Suno and AI music company Udio for copyright infringement based on claims that they used music owned by the record labels to train their AI models.

In the generative AI era, numerous murky copyright battles have cropped up with no clear resolution. Media organizations like the New York Times Company have sued OpenAI and Microsoft alleging copyright theft. But AI companies claim their practice of using mass corpora of data scraped from the internet is fair use.

SEE ALSO: All the media companies that have licensing deals with OpenAI (so far)

Suno had been vague about how it trained its AI music generator, despite damning note-for-note comparisons of RIAA copyrighted songs and Suno-generated songs included in the lawsuit. But now, Suno is claiming that this is perfectly legal according to fair use guidelines. "We train our models on medium- and high-quality music we can find on the open internet," said Suno CEO Mikey Schulman in a blog post accompanying the legal filing. "Much of the open internet indeed contains copyrighted materials, and some of it is owned by major record labels."

In response, RIAA posted a statement on X, saying "[Suno's] industrial scale infringement does not qualify as 'fair use.' There's nothing fair about stealing an artist's life's work, extracting its core value, and repackaging it to compete directly with the originals."

Tweet may have been deleted

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, fair use "promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances." Such circumstances include "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research."

In the blog post, Schulman goes on to say Suno's neural networks learn "like a kid learning to write new rock songs by listening religiously to rock music," and therefore, "learning is not infringing." However equating synthetic intelligence to human intelligence is very much unresolved in the eyes of the law. Currently the Copyright Office says AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted, which pretty clearly distinguishes artificial intelligence from human intelligence when it comes to the final product. But the "learning process," i.e. training data is entirely new territory.

Suno's legal filing alleges the RIAA lawsuit is essentially a David and Goliath situation where major record labels are trying to stifle competition. "Where Suno sees musicians, teachers, and everyday people using a new tool to create original music, the labels see a threat to their market share," the filing said.

Mashable has reached out to Schulman for additional comments and will update if we hear back.

The Justice Department said that TikTok illegally collected children’s data and knowingly allowed users under the age of 13 to create accounts.

TL;DR: Get a 13-in-1 docking station featuring dual HDMI for just $44.97 (reg. $70) until August 4, and is perfect for content creators who need multiple device connections.

Opens in a new window Credit: Tech Zebra 13-in-1 Docking Station with Dual HDMI $44.97 at The Mashable Shop
$70.00 Save $25.03 Get Deal

As a content creator, having an adapter that can work with a variety of devices and drives is crucial, whether you're uploading videos for TikTok, transferring important blog files to your computer, or doing work for just about any other creative medium.

This 13-in-1 docking station with dual HDMI ports is designed to give you seemingly endless connectivity possibilities, so you can utilize multiple devices with ease. Through August 4, you can get it on sale for $44.97 (reg. $70) at 28%.

With dual HDMI ports, you can connect two monitors: one for editing and one for reference, streamlining your workflow and boosting productivity.

This powerhouse docking station features a variety of fast USB ports, perfect for speedy file transfers from your cameras and external hard drives. No more tangled cables with a USB-C and USB-A connection.

The inclusion of an SD and TF card reader ensures quick access to your footage and photos, making it ideal for YouTubers, streamers, and creative professionals.

Its audio jack supports both input and output, allowing you to connect your microphones and headphones with ease. Whether you’re recording a podcast, streaming live, or editing videos, this docking station provides an all-inclusive solution to all your connectivity needs.

Enjoy an impressive array of features without the clutter. Optimize your creative workspace and keep everything you need within reach with this 13-in-1 docking station with dual HDMI, on sale for $44.97 through August 4.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

FREE $15 GIFTCARD: As of August 2, spend $50 on select cleaning supplies at Target and get a free $15 Target GiftCard.

Opens in a new window Credit: Target Free $15 Target GiftCard with $50 of Select Cleaning Supplies Get Deal

Fall is just about here. Why not take some time to tidy up your home? It's a great time to do so, especially since there are deals like Target's that practically reward you for picking up some paper towels and cleaning that bathroom or for tackling that sink full of dishes you've been neglecting. And if you're the type of person who needs a reward in order to handle tasks like that, we've got just the deal for you.

As of August 2, you can get a free $15 Target GiftCard when you spend $50 on select cleaning supplies. This deal is for those with a Target Circle membership and you must activate it by heading to the deal page. You can use the coupon once per Target Circle account, and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

You can choose from a wide variety of goodies you'll need to tackle just about every cleaning need, from Target's up&up brand paper towels to Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and everything in between. There are also sandwich storage bags, Tide Pens, Scrub Mommy sponges, plastic forks, toilet paper, and other home goods to choose from. All you need to do is buy at least $50 of it and add it all to your cart, then check out with the deal activated.

This deal is only available for a limited time, and it's only good for one use. Make it count and get ready to fall into some serious savings on things you're probably going to be buying for your home anyway. Now you just get a treat for doing so that you can put back into, you guessed it, buying more of the things you need.

SAVE $23.53: As of August 2, get the Samsung 15W Wireless Charger for just $36.46 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $59.99. That's a discount of 39%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Samsung 15W Wireless Charger $36.46 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $23.53 Get Deal

Tired of dealing with a jumble of charging cables for each one of your mobile devices? Remove your Samsung smartphone from the equation and grab a charging pad that can boost your Galaxy phones and devices back up to 100%. You won't ever have to worry about fiddling with a cord, plugging it in, or finding the right cable. And right now, you can get the charger for a great price.

As of August 2, you can get the Samsung 15W Wireless Charger for just $36.46 at Amazon. That's a 39% discount and $23.53 off the normal price of $59.99.

SEE ALSO: Get a 1TB Samsung T7 portable SSD for just $100

This proprietary Samsung charging pad is a convenient option for making sure all your devices are powered up when you need them. Just drop your phone or other device on this fast charger and go. It's compatible with a litany of models from Samsung's Galaxy lineup, including Flip and Fold phones. Just put your phone on the charging pad and thanks to USB PD and Samsung's Adaptive Fast Charging features, you'll be back up to speed in no time.

The charging pad has a built-in cooling system with a fan as well to keep it from overheating. And you don't have to check your actual device to see where you are in terms of a full battery. It has an LED light that gives you the charging status with green, red, and yellow lights that give you an idea of progress. Plus it's small, compact, and easy to use.

If you're looking for an easier, quicker charging solution, be sure and snag this one while it's still in stock.

Intel has announced a substantial reduction in its global workforce.

The computing giant will lay off somewhere between 15,000 and 19,000 employees, according to The Verge. Intel hopes to implement $10 billion in cost savings for 2025, and will reduce marketing and research spending substantially over the next couple of years. It will also strive to stop "non-essential" work, but didn't elaborate on what that meant.

SEE ALSO: It’s not just PlayStation: 6 other gnarly gaming layoffs in 2024 so far

Intel reported losses of $1.6 billion for the previous fiscal quarter. There are many factors contributing to this, but companies like Apple and Microsoft abandoning Intel in favor of chips created either in-house or by Qualcomm hasn't helped. Intel has also failed to make significant in-roads on AI development compared to some of its contemporaries.

Tens of thousands of tech workers have already been laid off before the end of summer 2024. Major companies like Microsoft, Google, Riot Games, and others join Intel in having recently slashed jobs. The wave has hit several sectors, from computing to gaming and others.

Fingers crossed this is the last story like this that we see for a while.

Hey, do you want to have to pay even more money for yet another streaming service? Boy, are you in luck: Venu — the joint sports streaming offering from Disney (ESPN), Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery — has officially set its price-tag and outlined when it plans to launch.

It'll cost $42.99 per month and launch in the fall, with no exact date set just yet. At least on it's surface value, that's a tough ask, considering it's much more expensive than pretty much any other streaming service. But sports, and live broadcast rights, are big business and one of the few remaining things on TV that are appointment viewing. In short: sports, typically speaking, get folks to pay-up.

It seems the goal from Venu — which by the way, is pronounced like the word Venue, which is just wrong — is to get younger customers who loves sports but don't want to pay for a cable package.

"We're building Venu from the ground up for fans who want seamless access to watch the sports they love, and we will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages," Venu CEO Pete Distad said in a statement.

So, what'll be on Venu? You get all the sports offerings on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV, and ESPN+. The press release, and pretty much every write up of the news, notes the service will include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, NASCAR as well as college sports, golf, tennis, and soccer offerings.

The big question here, however, is the NFL because, well, it is by far the most popular thing on TV in the U.S. With ESPN and Fox onboard, you have a decent amount of the NFL offerings on Venu. But, if you're an NFL completist, as most American sports fans are, Venu won't be enough. NBC, CBS, Amazon, and the NFL Network and also air a fair number of NFL games, meaning you'll need to pony up for other streaming services or a YouTube TV/cable subscription if you want to watch every game.

So, no matter what decision you make, watching sports is going to continue to cost a lot of money.

GET $300 OFF: As of August 2, the OmniBook X is $899.99, down from $1,199.99 at Best Buy. That's a $300 discount.

Opens in a new window Credit: HP Our pick: 14-inch HP OmniBookX Copilot+ PC (Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB, 1TB SDD) $899.99 at Best Buy
$1,199.99 Save $300.00 Get Deal

It’s back-to-school season, and retailers are celebrating the new semester with discounts on Echo devices, laptops, and more. Best Buy, in particular, is having a 48-hour flash sale where you can save hundreds on your favorite games, electronics, and small home appliances.

SEE ALSO: 60+ best back-to-school deals for students on a budget

One of the best deals we’ve found is on the OmniBook X, a powerful laptop that rivals the MacBook in performance and battery life. According to Mashable’s Kimberly Gedeon, this laptop “will have Apple shaking in its boots.”

And as of August 2, you can get it for $899.99 — $300 off the original price and $100 less than it was during Best Buy’s July sale.

The OmniBook X is a Copilot+ PC, which means it features on-device AI capabilities and an enhanced security system to protect your data. It has a 14-inch display, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a Snapdragon X Elite processor with a Qualcomm Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU). With a fast-charge battery that powers up 50% in just 30 minutes, you can take this laptop to class, the office, or anywhere on the go without worrying about running out of juice.

Bonus: The OmniBook X comes with one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so you can stream hundreds of games at no extra cost during the trial period.

Best gaming deals today Our top pick 'Horizon Call of the Mountain' PSVR2 bundle $399.99 (save $200) Get Deal Best subscription deal EA Play (one-month membership) $0.99 (save $5) Get Deal Best Xbox deal Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (three-month membership) $44.99 (save $5) Get Deal

Amazon Prime Day might be long gone, but great deals are still bountiful after the massive shopping event, especially in the gaming category. Luckily, you won't have to go looking far for those savings, because we've already put together a list of the best gaming deals you can get today. Check out our top picks below, including a great PSVR 2 bundle deal that expires in just a few days (Aug. 4).

SEE ALSO: 'Star Wars Outlaws' preview: Fine but forgettable Our top pick Opens in a new window Credit: PlayStation Our pick: 'Horizon Call of the Mountain' PSVR2 bundle $399.99 at Best Buy
$599.99 Save $200.00 Get Deal Why we like it

While PlayStation VR 2 didn't really blow up in the way that many of us expected it to, Sony's attempt at creating a smash-hit headset is still a worthwhile investment for VR diehards, if you ask us — especially when you can snag one for $200 off. This PSVR 2 deal not only comes with the VR rig itself, but also with a copy of Horizon Call of the Mountain, which is definitely a must-play PSVR 2 title. The deeply immersive experience throws you into the world of Horizon as you've never seen it before. You'll climb treacherous mountains, go head-to-head with dangerous machine enemies, and bask in the gorgeous environments that the game has to offer. If you've enjoyed the other Horizon games and want to connect with the franchise even deeper, this is your best bet. This deal ends on Aug. 4, so be sure to grab one quickly if you're considering it.

Best subscription deal Opens in a new window Credit: EA Our pick: EA Play (one-month membership) $0.99 at EA
$5.99 Save $5.00 Get Deal Why we like it

If you're passionate about EA's expansive library of sports titles and beyond, picking up an EA Play membership will be more than worth it for you. As of the time of this writing, EA is offering your first month of the service for just $0.99 to celebrate EA Play's ten-year anniversary (after the first month, your membership will convert to $5.99 per month or $39.99 per year if you don't cancel). Member benefits of EA Play include unlimited access to an assortment of EA titles, including Madden 23, The Sims 4, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and many more. You'll also get in-game rewards as you play, the ability to test out new games using the game trials feature, and a 10% discount on other EA digital content like season passes and DLC for select titles.

Best Xbox deal Opens in a new window Credit: Xbox Our pick: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (three-month membership) $44.99 at Amazon
$49.99 Save $5.00 Get Deal Why we like it

We've already told you approximately one million times before, but it always bears repeating: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is one of the best deals in gaming, and if you have an Xbox console, a necessity. Game Pass offers subscribers access to a massive library of games to download from and play whenever they want, which spans from Xbox classics to day-one new releases. At the Ultimate tier, you'll also be able to play online with friends, get exclusive discounts in the Microsoft Store, unlock access to PC Game Pass, and many other perks. Pick up a three-month membership at Amazon and save yourself $5, just $44.99.

Somewhere along the way, M. Night Shyamalan went from a classy, "elevated horror" auteur — "The Next Spielberg," Newsweek called him in 2002 — to a purveyor of cheap thrills. It was the best thing that ever happened to him. Trap follows in the footsteps of the schlockier work he's made in the last decade, beginning with the self-funded found footage thriller The Visit. The film's story is tightly wound around a dopey premise, but it's also buoyed by incredible heart and soul, and seldom slows down while twisting every possible screw. In short, it’s an absolute blast.

Set largely at a pop concert, and featuring narrative zig-zags that stretch incredulity, it's easy to see how Trap might lose viewers eager to nitpick plot holes and logistics. However, that would be missing the forest for the trees. At the movie’s core is a surprisingly layered story of parenthood, which is entirely in service of the kind of thrilling goofiness Shyamalan brought to 2021's Old — a movie whose visual and narrative framing is similarly (and intentionally) off-kilter while remaining utterly committed to sincere melodrama.

SEE ALSO: Josh Hartnett compares his new role in 'Trap' to his character Zeke from 'The Faculty'

Trap is wonderfully good. It might even be great. And if it's not attuned to your sensibilities, chances are, you'll have a hoot of a time regardless.

What is Trap about? Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Man, what isn't Trap about? 

In the broadest possible strokes: it's about a well-to-do Philadelphia firefighter, Cooper (Josh Hartnett), who takes his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a show by her favorite popstar, only to discover that the concert is also a trap to capture him — as it turns out, he's secretly a notorious serial killer known as The Butcher.

That's all you really need to know going in, though the film is surprisingly spoiler-proof. Long gone are the days when even Shyamalan's most prestigious works hinged on major reveals — such has been his reputation, even though it's only really happened in three or four of his 16 features — because he's proven much more adept at telling stories with numerous, cascading twists and turns. But perhaps the biggest twist in Trap is that it's a thoughtful father-daughter story at its core. 

Trap is a film about 'girl dads' Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

As much as its plot concerns Cooper discovering the scale of this police operation, and wriggling through whatever cracks he can find, the reason it feels urgent — and why he can't simply go on the run — is that he truly, deeply cares about Riley. She's been having a tough time at school with bullies and seeing the spark in her eye as she sings and dances means the universe to him. As much as Cooper might want to find a way out of the labyrinthine concert venue, he doesn't want to arouse her suspicions, and he needs to make sure she has a good time too.

Which is to say: if the premise didn't seem loopy enough from the trailers, it's also a girl-dad movie in saccharine, sentimental ways. After all, the pop singer at its center, Lady Raven, happens to be played by R&B artist Saleka (Shyamalan's daughter), who features heavily on screen (not to be confused with his other daughter, Ishana, who directed The Watchers this year). Trap is practically an ode to his daughters and their teenage years, though it also wrestles with some of the darker implications of fatherhood. It plays, at times, like a confrontation of what it means for a daughter to challenge a man's view of the world, and of himself.

Featured Video For You Josh Hartnett compares his new role in 'The Trap' to his character Zeke from 'The Faculty'

During Trap, it's fun to see the uncommon sight of a western pop star of South Asian origin (quite fitting for brat summer, the doing of British Asian sensation Charli XCX), but the inclusion of Saleka is more than just a gimmick. Sure, Shyamalan attempts to highlight her musical talents, but the young singer-songwriter proves a surprisingly key (and radiant) presence, a bastion of aspirational goodness who vitally contrasts with Cooper. Shyamalan casts his daughter as a symbol of absolution, who suggests that her fans hold up their phone flashlights in the name of forgiveness and acceptance — traits Cooper doesn't adhere to when the movie occasionally delves into his backstory. It's a moving meta-text, made all the more tragic by the fact that Cooper is constantly trying to escape Lady Raven's orbit, and willing to make innocent bystanders his pawns.

There is perhaps no more fitting a venue in which to wrestle with casual misogyny than a pop concert aimed at teenage girls, and the film incorporates this idea with surprising subtlety. Cooper is quick to put several young women and girls at the concert in harm's way to create distractions, and he doesn't appear to take Lady Raven very seriously (his ultimate folly, Shyamalan, you old softie). Protecting Riley from bullies may be just as important to him as evading the cops, but he also has a casually violent misogynistic streak. One gets the sense that Cooper might trot out a defense like "as the father of a daughter…" as though it were a get-out-of-jail-free card. 

Trap is a cat-and-mouse game where the mouse has a head start Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

However, Trap isn't a film of learning moments. It's far too mischievous for something so didactic. Rather, it uses Cooper's relationship to Riley as a kind of rubber band. He often leaves her to enjoy the show while scouting the venue for exits, like some kind of serial killer 007 — it's hard not to root for him each time he pulls off a small heist to slip past security guards. But his role as a chaperone means he constantly finds himself back with Riley no matter how much progress he makes.

The more Cooper's suspicions are aroused by the increased police presence, the more he tries to sleuth out their strategy. It's a cat-and-mouse game where the mouse has a head start (the police don't know what he looks like). Minor characters are surprisingly forthcoming with what they share — in part because he can turn on the charm, but also for plot convenience — and new opportunities to slip out unnoticed seem to arise as soon as existing ones are thwarted. Some of these exit strategies are ludicrous, from Cooper trying to score a backstage pass, to a featured artist inexplicably appearing through an illogically placed trap door (heh).

But Shyamalan has a secret weapon amid all this: the talents of Josh Harnett. 

Josh Hartnett's fine-tuned, operatic performance keeps Trap on track

Trap does for Harnett what Shyamalan's Split did for James McAvoy: both films provide their actors with some truly madcap material that allows them to flex their most unexpected thespian muscles. Hartnett and McAvoy ham it up like nobody's business, but they have so much god damn fun with it.

In Harnett's case, the first layer of this fun takes the form of well-meaning dad jokes and stilted delivery that hints at a kind of pretense. Shyamalan's dialogue has never felt polished or naturalistic, but its floweriness here beats with distinct purpose. It feels robust during fleeting moments of exposition, allowing Cooper to create a detailed roadmap to his origins through implication, and paint pictures of his daily life using words alone. It also creates a sandbox for Hartnett, in which he plays with polite pleasantries and laces them with devious implications, accentuating the character's white, suburban, middle-class façade. The actor wields Cooper’s friendly front with precision, luring other characters in with his charm while winking to the audience. 

Trap is effectively about an all-American father trying, and slowly failing, to maintain a work-life balance, while keeping an addiction to bloodshed under wraps. The film isn't particularly interested in any realistic serial killer psychology, and it's also not concerned with his actual methodology, or any of the salacious tenets one might expect from Dexter or Criminal Minds — trauma, motive, trophies, what have you. However, the film is deeply invested in the mask of normalcy Cooper wears.  

The film circles the question of what fatherhood means for someone who has such horrific, secret impulses, a theme that may as well reflect the desire to create horror movies, as though Shyamalan were turning the camera on himself. However, this self-reflexivity is more of an echo than a linear conclusion. Harnett is far from an avatar for Shyamalan. Rather, he seems to represent Shyamalan's movies — his cinematic essence — which tend to wrestle with beliefs about the world, and about oneself.

Cooper, in the process, embodies the kind of spiritual war Shyamalan's movies have come to fight in the latter half of his career, with works like After Earth, Old, and Knock at the Cabin. These films ask what it would take for parents to protect their children from the world, and from themselves, and Trap is no different. But as thoughtful as it may be, the reason it works like a charm is because it's unrelenting in its use of themes of family and fatherhood as fuel for a genuinely raucous thriller.

Trap is a propulsive visual romp 

As much as Shyamalan is responsible for Trap as its writer-director, an equal degree of credit must be given to cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, the Thai maestro behind Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee and Luca Guadagnino's Challengers. Shyamalan's thriller wouldn't be nearly as impactful without Mukdeeprom's visual trickery and his evolving use of space.

When the movie begins, it features a sense of vast, open possibility while framing Lady Raven's performance as a distant feature. Her show is always seen through Cooper's point of view, literally and metaphorically, as something far away, and something he doesn't understand (or really care to). But the film takes surprisingly intimate turns, and contorts geography until it feels like every wall is closing in on Cooper, à la non-stop concert thrillers like Grand Piano and the opera scene in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Mukdeeprom employs techniques like split diopters to compress space when it feels like authorities are close, and in immediate response, awkward framing with an excess of emptiness whenever Cooper finds some kind of escape hatch. The film practically controls your breathing through its aesthetics, alternating between claustrophobia and a bizarre form of relief, where you find yourself rooting for a guy to get back to his hobby of dismembering innocent people.

Trap is also impeccable in its use of close-ups, which become tighter and more discomforting as the film progresses. Each time Harnett is in frame, Mukdeeprom lights him in ever-so-slightly eerie ways. Nothing feels overtly "wrong" with Cooper, but his eyes feel just a little too obscured by shadow. He feels a little too duplicitous, or a little too asymmetrical, in ways that your brain may only register subconsciously.

Something just feels off, much in the same way cinematographer Michael Gioulakis made each camera movement feel off in Shyamalan's Old. In this case, what's most puzzling is an inescapable stillness that's as alluring as it is uncanny. You can't look away, but you also don't want to. Trap is filled with these opposing dichotomies. At the end of the day, it's about following a serial killer as he finds his way out of a corner like a wounded animal, if only for his daughter's love — until a sly switch in POV turns it tense, tragic, and downright terrifying, both thanks to Hartnett's performance, and thanks to Shyamalan's fable-like approach to perpetuating cycles of bad parenthood.

His masterstroke, however, is that all throughout every thematic and tonal turn, and each gonzo narrative escalation, Trap  remains wildly and consistently entertaining, with laugh-out-loud dramatic ironies that collide headfirst with a sincere father-daughter story in the most fucked up packaging.

Trap is now in theaters.

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