Bizarre and Oddly Disturbing Psychological Thriller

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2017)

Following from his 2015 soft comeback film 'The Visit,' director M. Night Shyamalan's next suspenseful thriller titled 'Split' was already an intrigue with the plot centering around James McAvoy's character having an unusual personality disorder. This had me jumping back to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho, but unlike Anthony Perkins' unhinged Norman Bates with his one "Mother" persona, McAvoy's Kevin Crumb has twenty-three personas in his complex mind that you'd never know when his normal self is there or not (or anything that is "normal" for that matter).
A psychologist named Dr. Fletcher is trying to learn more about what makes Kevin transition from one personality to the next, but with each one that emerges, it grows even more bizarre since each one has the mindset of a nine-year-old boy, an unknown woman, or a kidnapper named "Dennis." It becomes increasingly ambiguous that Fletcher decides to investigate into what each personality had done in life with the help of one of his captives, a young girl named Casey.
For this to what could possibly be Shyamalan's next splendid follow-up, I say this is one of his long-awaited return to form. For Split, the way he tries to capture McAvoy's unpredictable notions on camera makes it feel more terrifying every time we try to comprehend each personality carefully. I did get lost in some parts of the film, but knowing McAvoy's past roles in other movies, I always pondered that a few of these personalities might as well be indirectly mirroring some of McAvoy's previous movie roles.
It became a psychological thrill ride that my mentality was put to the test and keeping up in some parts proved tricky, but careful observation. The twist ending (which I won't spoil) was uniquely different from the other plot twists Shyamalan had done in his previous projects. This one in particular would be one I found to be very jarring in my opinion (I know, since a few in the audience were quietly deducing a connection). Well played, sir.