I have never been a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan, but I was pleasantly surprised by his last film, The Visit. That movie was a batshit crazy blend of horror and comedy, the tone of which I liken to a lost episode of Tales from the Crypt stretched out to feature length (I apparently wasn’t the only one to have that thought, as Shyamalan was tapped as the creative director of the forthcoming relaunch of Tales from the Crypt shortly thereafter). I hoped that Split would be a continued step in that direction (in quality, if not tone), but instead Shyamalan’s latest is a return to his old bag of tricks. At its core, Split is a standard thriller that, like his early films, is elevated by the strength of its performances and a twist ending that completely alters the audience’s perception of the preceding 90 minutes.
Split, something like a modern day take on Psycho or Raising Cain, is the story of a man (played by James McAvoy) suffering from split personalities. 23 personalities, to be exact. Many of these are fairly harmless, but it seems that the more evil personalities have taken control lately and they decided to kidnap three high school girls (played by Anya Taylor Joy and two others that I don’t know), lock them up and eventually sacrifice them to the emerging 24th personality, known as The Beast.
The biggest strength of this film is the extraordinary performance by McAvoy, who essentially plays multiple characters via the different personalities. It is quite amazing to see him manipulate his tone, body language and quirks to switch between personalities in such a way that the audience knows exactly what persona they are watching just from his mannerisms and vocal patterns. And freaking Anya Taylor Joy. I really want to like this girl. I believe she could easily become a major star in the near future, as she is one of the most talented, pretty and likeable young actresses working today. Although Split is a huge improvement on her two previous films (the awful Morgan and the mind-numbingly boring The Witch), she is still left with little to do other than look frightened and periodically run. I’m hoping to finally see her in something that I really enjoy in the near future because right now she is something of a cinematic bad luck charm for me.
The problem with Split is that the premise, while fairly original, is also thin. Half the time it seems as if the movie is just trying to pad the running time until it can get to the end. The kidnapping takes place in the first five minutes and then…..we kill time waiting for the last five minutes. Standard thriller things happen: the girls take turns trying to run away and getting caught, they try to find ways out, a third-party (a psychiatrist in this case) is slowly figuring out that something is wrong and tracking down the villain, etc. We have seen all of this a million times. The saving grace is that much of the filler is McAvoy being goddamn crazy and giving ominous monologues while slipping between personalities. At times, I was reminded of Ernest P. Worrell going off on one of those rants where he took on multiple personas in quick succession. Except, you know, better.
And speaking of filler, can someone please explain to me the need for the flashback scenes? We are frequently shown flashbacks to the main girl’s childhood when she was sexually abused by her uncle. I kept waiting for the payoff to these scenes, but it never came. I suppose it could explain why she is cynical and hesitant to try to use physical force against her captor. But that is an insanely elaborate explanation for a plot point that I wasn’t even questioning to begin with.
Then there is the ending. I’m not going to spoil it, but I figure that people will have one of three reactions. Either they will A. Have no idea what’s going on or B. Think that it’s really cheap or C. Think that its absolute genius. It’s difficult to discuss without giving it away, so I will just say that this is possibly the most well-disguised sequel ever made. But I am honestly more interested in the movie that this sets up than I am in this movie.
Split is a mediocre movie with an excellent performance and a likely polarizing ending. Your level of appreciation for the final twist will greatly determine your affinity for the overall film. However, if you remove the final 30 seconds, you are left with just a decent thriller that goes through the motions well.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(2016_American_film)#/media/File:Split_(2017_film).jpg
