Wednesday Review - Split

Wow, this one’s late.  I know, I know, I’m sorry, I’ve been busy.  That said, however, I couldn’t pass up the chance to comment on Split.  Now, while I think he’s made definite stinkers like The Village and Lady in the Water, I’m not Shyamalan’s biggest critic.  I enjoyed Devil, and I remember getting a morbid kick out of all the suicides in The Happening, even if I remember nothing else.  Also, I’m on the pro-Visit side, despite the problems I have with the portrayal of mental illness.  All of this aside, yes Split was awesome, and comes complete with a twist that’s both surprising, and genuinely good.

I think Shyamalan has ultimately benefitted from his unlikely partnership with Producer Jason Blum, a man known for producing great trailers for bad-to-mediocre horror films.  This movie feels like something that had Blum’s stamp of approval on it before it ever got close to going in front of a camera.  Despite feeling like a Shyamalan movie, with lots of subtext and subtle moments, the plot ultimately keeps moving at a pace fast enough to insure that no viewers will get bored.  It’s a nice sign of learning from a directly who famously changed studios rather than try to turn Lady in the Water into something anyone outside his immediately family would want to see.

While most of the acting in this movie is great, James McAvoy steals the show.  Based on the trailer I was surprised to hear critics suggesting that he might be up for a Best Actor Oscar next year, but now that I’ve seen his entire performance I completely agree.  While his portrayed of DiD is, of course, absurd, he manages to make us by every second of it, while always keeping us fully aware of exactly who he is.

The premise of the movie is that McAvoy’s character, Kevin, is a man with 23 personalities.  Most of these are completely benevolent personas, but three (or two and a lackey) particularly dangerous personalities have taken control, and kidnapped three teenaged girls in an effort to sacrifice them to a mystical 24^th personality.  This ties in with a therapist who’s been treating Kevin, and who believes that DiD patients can alter their body chemistry to match the personas they assume.

The fact that the Beast eventually does show up, and has dangerous abilities that his counterparts lack, goes without saying.  The twist is where the film finally goes from there, and I have to admit that I didn’t see it coming, and my jaw legitimately dropped.  I’ll suffice it to say that it’s a meta twist.

This movie has my complete endorsement.  I now sincerely hope that Shyamalan’s career is back on track for some time to come.