Review: SPLIT

SPLIT
(THRILLER) 
★★★
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, Izzie Leigh Coffey, Brad William Henke, Sebastian Arcelus, Neal Huff, Kim Director
Rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material and behavior, violence and some language.
117 minutes
Verdict: Shyamalan's latest is at least as flawed as his best movies, but it's also fun, funny, clever and ends with one hell of a mic drop to make for his strongest movie in years.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN SPLIT IF YOU LIKED:
THE VISIT  (2015)
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE  (2016)
DEVIL  (2010)
UNBREAKABLE  (2000)
MORGAN  (2016)
I still haven't seen THE VISIT, but it seems that most people agree that it was a substantial improvement on filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan's more recent howlers like AFTER EARTH and THE LAST AIRBENDER.  A lot of people see THE VILLAGE, which I actually think is fine with some prominent strengths, as his turning point from the promising writer-director of THE SIXTH SENSE to becoming a much-loathed one trick pony, but even between THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE and SIGNS, even his best movies have big problems.  LADY IN THE WATER was the worst one, at least, maybe about on par with THE LAST AIRBENDER.  He has a juvenile, somewhat schlocky style, but also an occasionally overwhelming sense of self-importance.  In SPLIT, however, with a low budget of $10 million (still double that of THE VISIT, but only a quarter the cost of THE SIXTH SENSE), Shyamalan embraces the schlock and plays well to his strengths in a weird, imperfect and exploitatively fun thriller.  Are we seeing the Shyamalanaissance?
SPLIT showcases a knockout performance by James McAvoy as "Kevin", a man with an exaggerated form of dissociative identity disorder that manifests in 23 different distinct personalities that battle for prominence in "the light".  Usually the most sensible of his personalities, "Barry", maintains control, but recently, three others have taken over; the orderly and harsh "Dennis", the supposedly sweet but cruel "Patricia", and the innocent "9-year-old" boy "Hedwig," who kidnap three high school girls (Anya Taylor-Johnson of THE WITCH, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula) as sacrifices to a previously unrevealed personality they call "The Beast."

Far and away the highlight of the movie is McAvoy, who goes all in with each of his many characters, frequently alternating between and combining menace and humor.  Occasionally, Hedwig feels like a little too much, like a cartoonish representation of a mentally handicapped person, but he also has a great dance sequence, and in a turtleneck sweater, pendant and skirt, McAvoy makes Patricia hilariously weird with a bit of formality and a bit of sass.  One of the weaker points of the movie is a subplot involving Kevin's psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who gives a lot of Shyamalan-style exposition about dissociative identity disorder (a highly fictionalized version of it anyway), and there are aspects of the plot that play pretty clumsily until some very late developments tie them together with unexpected and exciting efficiency, if in a slightly questionable way.  I can't say any more about it here than that.
It starts to feel long around the third act, and at two hours, it might play better if it were about 20 minutes shorter.  On the other hand, most of the movie moves along really well, with the action kicking off very early on and then leading from one doomed escape attempt after another as the girls try to manipulate the naive but not altogether innocent Hedwig.  Suffice it to say, that while it may not be perfect, SPLIT is undeniably fun and unexpectedly funny, and easily Shyamalan's best new movie in over a decade.

Images via Universal