Drive in Saturday Double Feature Tuesday Movie Review: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Trap”
The Drive-In Saturday Tuesday Movie review series is, of course, named after the Bowie song but often has little more than that related to Bowie. For more Bowie, come back tomorrow…
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Movies: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Trap
Bowie Connection: Neither movie featured Bowie, Bowie music or overt Bowie themes. Beetlejuice (I’m just gonna call it Beetlejuice) did co-star Willem DaFoe, who appeared in three Bowie movies- The Hunger, The Last Temptation of Christ and Basquiat. Trap had to do with a pop star, more like Taylor Swift than Bowie, but the movie played with the relationship between the pop star and her fans, her hold over them and what resources she had at her disposal. Bowie certainly explored such themes as well.
Experience: The evening temperatures are dropping, so we stayed in our car for both movies at the Jericho Drive-in. Nonethless, I got my sundae— death by chocolate — and we were quite comfortable. Somehow, we managed to stay awake for both movies.
Beetlejuice review: I have very little memory of the first Beetlejuice from 1988. I had forgotten that Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis were in that one (they are not in this one), but vaguely remember it as being funny. A couple of generations later, we now have a sequel and, having just seen it, I vividly remember as being vaguely funny. Last year (or was it two years ago) there were an unusual number of ghost-related movies that popped up at the drive-in, but thus far this is the first for 2024. There are multiple, intersecting plot lines, but they mostly serve the purpose of setting up amusing gags, featuring several recognizable stars including Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, and Justin Theroux. Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega, who looks like she really could be Winona Ryder’s daughter) navigate the afterlife, and contend with Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) and the threat posed by his vengeful ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci). Plus some other stuff. Not that important. Amusing enough to keep our interest.
The most striking thing about this movie is seeing Winona Ryder at 52. She actually looks older than that. But isn’t she, like 25?
Oddly enough, I’m at a loss to identify societal trends being analogized by this movie. Supernatural movies usually are actually about some real-life fear, and comedies tend to work with very contemporary topics (which is why so few hold up over time). But I didn’t pick up on too many underlying themes going on here. Maybe, if I was to guess, it has to do with the aging of the original audience. The first movie was released 36 years ago. Someone born in 1988 could literally be a grandparent (that’s how old Congresswoman Lauren Bobert was last year when she became a grandmother). So, we see in this movie aging, death, life after death and generational issues. Perhaps the idea of afterlife, that it’s never too late for a sequel, and that some of these actors are still acting is reassure to people my age. Then again, I barely remember the first movie…
Trap review. Trap, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, centers on Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), a serial murderer known as “The Butcher,” who tries to evade capture while attending a pop concert with his daughter. As the FBI sets up a sting operation at the event, Cooper attempts to outwit the authorities amidst the chaos of the show, headlined by singer Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan). This is a better movie than Beetlejuice. The story is told in three acts, the first of which takes place at the concert, and the last of which focuses on the pursuit and arrest of Cooper. The first part has the feel of a Hitchcock or maybe a Brian DePalma type suspense movie, and the last part has the feel of a police chase type movie. Both of these sections are entertaining and I could write more about them, but the truly interesting part of this movie is the middle act.
In the middle of the movie, the theretofore remote pop star, Lady Raven, becomes one of the central characters. It turns out, she’s in on the trap, and takes active, heroic steps to try to foil the killer’s evil plan. She vanishes in the third act, but the middle part of the movie focuses on the powers that come with her celebrity and how she uses those powers to fight crime. Almost like a super hero, but more like a pop-culture fantasy. Oddly, Lady Raven is portrayed as entirely wholesome and her immense powers are not only only used for good, but don’t go to her head. This means something. I’ll be thinking about what it means for a while.
The movie has some odd elements, some of which seem designed to push the limits of the audience’s suspension of disbelief. The “trap” to catch the killer involves an army of cops, a massive “good” conspiracy involving the concert staff, and another remote character, a profiler, who seems at once to be omniscient and full of shit. I kept thinking about the psychiatrist at the end of Psycho (you do remember the psychiatrist at the end of Psycho, don’t you?). I haven’t figured out what it’s all supposed to mean, but that’s good because the movie left me with a lot more to think about than the first feature.
Ratings: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice gets two Beetlejuices. Trap gets three Admiral Ackbars!