Split : A Review

“The broken are the more evolved.”

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M. Night Shyamalan’s  newest Horror/Thriller, Split, has been something I have been excited to see since I first saw the trailer in this last year. After the anticipation of waiting months to finally see it, I was concerned it would fail to live up to my highly developed expectations. I am still actually undecided as to whether it did after nearly a week of trying to devise a verdict. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the film, whilst it wasn’t quite on the same level as Shyamalan’s previous thriller successes, the film on a whole was a good watch and places him back in the spotlight.

I will try to divulge as little as possible when it comes to plot but it would be hard for me to attempt to refrain from including anything at all, especially when there is so much to explain. Split’s plot kicks off with three teenage girls being kidnapped by an OCD ridden, buttoned up James McAvoy, who, as the personality ‘Dennis’, knocks them unconscious and takes them to a underground dungeon. Immediately I had linked the ‘dungeon’ part of this to Dan Trachtenberg’s ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ and once the resemblance was noticed I couldn’t really shake the thought throughout any scene where we watched Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy), one of the three girls abducted, scramble around the underground maze.  The film set off on a fairly slow pace and it took a while to get to grips on the characters and their roles in the film, however, it remained intriguing, but it was still easy to get lost in the initial choppy plot. The details in the film added an extra clever dimension, the window in Hedwig’s (another one of Kevin’s personalities) room and the images of ‘the Beast’ littered around the underground living space made the content in the plot more thorough, therefore allowed the personalities to be deemed more convicing and showed the character of Kevin, the host to all the personalities, to be genuinely mental. I was also glad to see the ‘Beast’ wasn’t actually a beast in its most literal sense, I had my fingers crossed since its first mention out of grave concern – please don’t turn James McAvoy into a wolf… The ending, however, left me at a bit of a loss, it is clear the plot struggles to reach a respectable close, in the end it does, but it was a little uneasy to watch. After having flashbacks of Casey’s perverted uncle thrust upon me throughout the duration of the film, I was hoping to see more development in regards to the story following her relationship with her uncle. It was hugely frustrating watching his face emerge towards the final parts of the film and the ambiguous ending following it. I felt as though that narrative thread needed closure and the ambiguous part to the ending should’ve been left to McAvoy’s role, nevertheless, it was never going to be easy drawing everything in to a perfect finale so Shyamalan deserves praise for ending it the way he saw fit.

The character of Casey Cooke played on the stereotypical role of a damaged outsider, separated from those more popular due to her unconventional upbringing. Anya Taylor-Joy (previously staring in the The Witch) performed her role to great effect and possessing an interesting yet tragic backstory naturally captivated the audience and persuaded us to identify with her. As previously said, the downside was that her backstory seemed to be neglected towards the end which effected her as a strong character for me, but it is clear Taylor-Joy’s calling is with horror and thriller films as she works well as the protagonist. In a different respect there is Betty Buckley, playing Dr Fletcher, who provides us with a much more pleasant element to the film. Whilst she isn’t quite as involved as McAvoy or Taylor-Joy, she definitely lifts the film out of total disturbing darkness.

Most importantly, it can’t go without mentioning James McAvoy’s performance. The character of Kevin Wendell involved practically performing 7 different characters in the same film, McAvoy executed this without fault, making each diverse personality its absolute own. He had the idiolect and mannerisms of each personality down to a T and it was both highly impressive and enjoyable to watch. The daunting task of switching from a playful child to undeniably creepy within seconds couldn’t have been an easy one, but it was clear McAvoy ceased this opportunity to show case all he can through the characterisation of various, seemingly stereotypical, figures. Hedwig, the 9 year old boy or personality, was a tremendous choice by M. Night, whilst being performed as a child in its most conventional sense, he added a comical element to the film, whilst also showing off as McAvoy revelled in what could be arguably his best performance to date. My only criticism was that out of the 24 personalities we only saw seven in any great depth, I was a little disappointed by this as from the trailer I did expect to see more than just the few we did.

I must say it was nice to see Shyamalan back in his comfort zone after his previous exploits, Sci-Fi film After Earth and action adventure film The Last Airbender, which weren’t successful or all that enjoyable. The director acclaimed for his brilliant thriller feats such as Unbreakable and Sixth Sense, resumed to this genre to tackle, once again, another imposing and intriguing thriller topic. The film isn’t super bloody or horrific in that sense but is undoubtably ultra-creepy and I recommend watching this latest film as whilst it has its faults, I was definitely entertained – and a little disturbed.

I must say it was nice to see Shyamalan back in his comfort zone after his previous exploits, Sci-Fi film After Earth and action adventure film The Last Airbender, which weren’t successful or all that enjoyable. The director acclaimed for his brilliant thriller feats such as Unbreakable and Sixth Sense, resumed to this genre to tackle, once again, another imposing and intriguing thriller topic. The film isn’t super bloody or horrific in that sense but is undoubtably ultra-creepy and I recommend watching this latest film as whilst it has its faults, I was definitely entertained – and a little disturbed.