Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right ... Here I am, stuck in the middle with the 23 of you

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2020)

I completely gave up on M. Night Shyamalan between 2005 and 2015. Talking in film titles, that means between "Lady in the Water" and "The Visit". I always thought his supposedly greatest accomplishments "Unbreakable" and "The Sixth Sense" were vastly overrated (and even blatant rip-offs of obscure horror gems), but at least they were watchable. I severely disliked "Signs" and absolutely hated "The Village", so after that it was exit M. Night for me. From what I read on the internet, he only made rubbish and commercial flops in this 10-year-period anyway. "Split" seemed different. It has a more intriguing concept than all of Shyamalan's previous movies combined, and for the very first time, the plot genuinely appeals to fans of dark psycho-thrillers. Usually his stories are balancing on the verge of fantasy and melodrama, with a minor touch of morbidity.
The first half of "Split" is really good! The script luckily doesn't waste too much time and almost immediately begins with the powerful and intense kidnapping sequence of three teenage girls - in broad daylight on a busy parking lot - by a sinister young man with an evil grimace on his face. The girls, two typically shallow beauties and one introvert girl with a troubled past, are taken to an unknown location and locked up in a sort of basement. What follows next are a good 40-45 minutes of terrific cinema during which the three girls, simultaneously with the audience, gradually learn that their kidnapper isn't just an ordinary maniac but a deeply disturbed schizophrenic with no less than 23 different personalities. The quiet girl, Casey, realizes their only chance for escape is by manipulating the weaker personalities, but there's also a 24th and ultimately evil alter ego brooding within Kevin.
Lots of praise and respect for talented young actress Anya Taylor-Joy, and especially for James McAvoy as Barry, Kevin, Dennis, Hedwig, Patricia, etc. Okay, admittedly, it must be a dream come true for any actor to be offered the chance to play a character like this and demonstrate that you are capable of depicting a variety of roles, but still McAvoy puts a lot of passion and devotion in every single twisted personality! My personal favorite is definitely the posh, elderly lady with the dress and necklace. Best male-actor-playing-ugly-old-woman since Robin Williams in "Mrs. Doubtfire", for sure! Sadly, M. Night's true personality also comes to the surface, and not even McAvoy can prevent "Split" from slowly turning into a dull and overly talkative B-thriller. Notably the conversations between whatever personality and his therapist are tedious and seem to last endlessly, but also Casey's cliched background story is quite redundant. Not sure what rating "Split" received, but the violence and murders all occur off screen, and that is a damn shame! I didn't like the ending (come to think of it, I never like the endings in Shyamalan's movies) but apparently it's the bridge towards a sequel/origin story "Glass".