M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most divisive filmmakers we have working today. When his career began in the late '90s with the Oscar-nominated film, The Sixth Sense, people were calling him the "next Spielberg". Shortly after The Village, people were starting to get distance from Shyamalan as he began throwing out not-so-strong films. In 2015, he made his somewhat comeback with The Visit, a film that I throughly enjoyed. After that, my interest in giving Shyamalan another chance grew and now we have Split.
We have James McAvoy in the lead role as Kevin, a man who is suffering from dissociative identity disorder (DID) and has 23 different personalities living inside of him. One has abducted three teenage girls (Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson & Jessica Sula) and decides to hold them up for a reason I won't spoil, while also trying to obtain help from his psychologist (Betty Buckley). I remember seeing the trailers and was intrigued for mainly two reasons. One being that McAvoy was the lead and I believe he's a criminally underrated actor and he other being that it's Shyamalan's follow-up to The Visit. I have to say that the man is back to greatness as Split was terrific!
I have to start off by talking about James McAvoy, as this is the best performance he has ever given. He's terrifying and heartbreaking, but also able to add a ton of humor to his performance. I wish he could get awards recognition, but because of how early in the year it is, it probably won't happen. It's also one of the strongest characters of Shyamalan's catalog, as I was never bored when following Kevin.
No one should push aside Anya Taylor-Joy, who gives another brilliant performance as Casey. It's exciting that she keeps crushing it after The Witch and Morgan. When we learn the backstory of Casey, it might be clichéd in certain ways. But, it makes you feel more attached to her as she's fighting her way to get out safely. She also wasn't playing the typical damsel in distress, due to how realistic her performance was. Plus, Betty Buckley kicked ass (#GoOldWomen)!
Split showcases what Shyamalan does best! When doing films at low budgets, he manages to keep his stories self-contained and compelling. I appreciate the intensity of the film, as well as its thrills that aren't cheap or generic. The cinematography by Mike Gioulakis and music by West Dylan Thordson also add to the enthrallment of Shyamalan's tenth feature. There's just so much to like about Split.
The twist has been talked about all over the place and I have to say it's extremely fascinating. It was definitely one that took me off guard, as the unpredictability was there. It'll definitely be mixed with some, but I enjoyed it very much. Plus, that cameo really was awesome, especially if you're a longtime fan of Shyamalan.
My only flaws have to lie with the pacing and some of the dialogue. In the beginning, the film isn't the easiest watch. The dialogue was a little one-note and the pacing was definitely slow in certain moments. There were also scenes involving a lot of exposition, but there were very little and short. Split was really terrific and I highly recommend everyone to go check this out opening weekend, especially if you're wondering if Shyamalan still has talent in him!
