Movie Review: Split
It’s hard to imagine that at one point in time, M. Night Shyamalan was one of the hottest directors in Hollywood. With hits such as “The sixth sense” and “Unbreakable,” he was a guaranteed box office success.
After he released “Signs” in 2002, Shyamalan saw a decline in his career as each film he released was poorly received and he ended up becoming nothing but a joke. After years of mishaps, Shyamalan seemed to find his groove again with 2015’s “The visit” and now with the release of “Split,” the old Shyamalan is finally starting to resurrect from the grave and deliver the kind of films that used to make him great.
After leaving a birthday party, three teenage girls are abducted by a stranger named Kevin (James McAvoy giving one hell of a performance) who holds them hostage in an underground lair. Before they have time to process what’s happening to them, the girls quickly discover that their kidnapper has 23 different personalities living inside him all who warn them that they are to be delivered to something known only as the Beast.
“Split” is easily the best film Shyamalan has produced in over ten years. With a solid cast and great direction it’s nice to see Shyamalan returning back to what he’s good at…scaring us with a plot so simple and a budget just big enough to tell his story without getting carried away. While this movie is definitely a sign that Shyamalan is on his way back up, there are still flaws that hold it back from being better than it could have been.
For starters, there is one too many characters in this film that serve more as a distraction to the story than anything else. For example, early on in the film we meet Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley) who we learn is Kevin’s therapist and serves as a narrator type character that informs us of Kevin’s personality condition. Her character really hurt the film in the sense that she really serves no purpose other than giving us details on Kevin’s condition. Every time the movie cuts to her it erases any type of tension the movie has built up and her scenes feel like more of a drag than anything. The film would have been a lot better (and scarier) I feel if her character never existed and we learned about Kevin’s condition through the eyes of the kidnapped girls as they try and find a way out. In fact, the girls figure out what’s wrong with him pretty early on without the help of Dr. Fletcher so I feel like the film would have worked just fine without her
Also thrown into the mix are the characters of one of the girl’s father and uncle who appear in flashback sequences which is also another problem the film has. The flashbacks, much like Dr. Fletcher’s scenes, are more of a distraction and take away from the dread the film is trying to build. By having these scenes and introducing the father and uncle, they simply take up too much screen time and instead of getting to know the girls better, we’re forced to interact with these side characters who have no real point. Out of the three girls, we only get to know one of them really well and the other two are simple side characters, which is a disappointment. If we didn’t have to deal with Dr. Fletcher, the father and uncle then we could have gotten to spend time with the other girls as well and care more about what happens to them when something goes wrong.
Looking over the unnecessary characters and flashbacks the movie has, the story itself is a lot of fun to watch and really interesting. It’s easily Shyamalan’s most original idea since perhaps “Unbreakable.” It also does a great job at creating suspense and there were definitely a few moments, especially towards the end, that had me gripping my seat just a little too tight for comfort and there are fantastically creepy images to be held in the film’s thrilling climax. It’s really nice to see Shyamalan taking risks again and trying to bring something original to our screens. He may still have some kinks to work out but I really appreciate the effort and hope he keeps producing movies more like this rather than Nickelodeon cartoons or sci-fi action flicks.
The best thing about this movie though, which always seems to be my favorite part of a film, is the performance delivered by McAvoy. Sure, the three girls do just fine in the roles they are given with a shout out to Anya Taylor-Joy who is continuing to show us she’s going to be one of the talented young actresses in Hollywood one day, but next to McAvoy they all fall short of his performance. I can’t remember the last time I was this impressed with his work. I don’t think he’s a bad actor by any means, but his performances never really wowed me before. As Kevin though, we see him in a whole new light as he takes on the role of a number of different personalities and we never feel like we’re just watching the same character. When he changes personalities, we can see it as he acts completely different with each character with his real standout being the portrayal of Hedwig, a nine year old boy who develops a liking for the girls. Throughout the entire movie he manages to keep a certain creep factor going on but when the film hits its climax he really turns into something terrifying that sent a few chills down my neck. With the way he moves his body and the number of facial expressions he gives, it’s easily the best performance we’ve ever seen in a Shyamalan film.
“Split” is not a perfect movie. It’s a little too long for its own good and suffers from some of Shyamalan’s old mistakes that he still hasn’t learned from. Like I’ve been stating though, it’s still a good step in the right direction for Shyamalan’s career and once again has me excited for what he’s going to do next.
The bottom line: “Split” is Shyamalan’s most original, creative and best film in over a decade and will definitely send some shivers through your body and reaching for your ears at just the right moment.
— keithariaz1@gmail.com