Conflict of interests

Rating: 5/10 (28 January 2020)

Okay, this one is difficult for me. On the one hand, my favourite classic gothic tale of all time is The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, and I could definitely see some influence in Split. But then again, this is M. Night Shyamalan, and I know that while he can get the ball rolling when it comes to storytelling, he is almost physically incapable of sticking the landing. In the end, I decided to watch this movie because I has been curious about James McAvoy's take on the character(s).
In this one respect, I was far from disappointed. McAvoy is a brilliant actor, and he pulled off not only all the various characters so that they were believable and distinctive, but he especially excelled in transitions between them. His performance was strong and seemingly effortless, and, as usual, his biggest forte was the non-verbal part of acting (gestures, posture, facial expressions).
I also think that Anya Taylor-Joy did a great job. I appreciate that this was not "just" another typical hostage character, and in my opinion, she delivered beautifully.
As I said before, there were aspects of the movie that really worked for me. I liked the pacing, the lack of physical violence or graphic content which seems to be the staple of thriller/horror movies of this kind. Altogether, the film would have probably been good enough for me...
BUT:
1. Editing in this thing was awful. We were jumping in and out of scenes abruptly without any apparent reason. It was very distracting and kept pulling me out of the story.
2. Even though I had an idea about the way the story would go towards the end, it did not make it any less nonsensical and almost cartoonishly ridiculous. Personally, I feel there is always a line between realism and fantasy, and even though I love both genres, once this line gets crossed, my mind instinctively recoils. This happened when the Beast was presented. Yes, mind over matter is a powerful message, but there are physical limitations to this. Had this been a fantastical story, I would have been okay with it, but if you set a story within our world as we know it, no one should be able to simply walk off shotgun wounds. Also, I found it completely unnecessary because the Beast letting Casey go based on her scars would have followed the logic of the story well enough. To me, the whole supernatural angle undermined and cheapened the overall story.
3. The thing that bothered me the most, however, was the psychiatrist. How was this quack ever allowed anywhere near patients?! She deliberately ignored signs, completely dismissed quite a dramatic change, presumed she could impose intimacy on a personality she had not met before, and never even thought about involving the police.
Overall, I am quite torn about this film. I expected I would either hate it or that it would pleasantly surprise me. Instead, I got an even worse outcome. I feel it could have been decent, if only...
Given a better screenplay and different editing, it could have been a good standalone movie. But the compromises made in order to set it up for a supernatural "universe" took away too much of the storyline in service of the box office, and that, for me, is always going to be a dealbreaker.