20 of My 23 Personalities Love Split

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2017)

Few directors inspire more intense reactions than Shyamalan. Starting out on the highest-of-highs (Sixth Sense) before steadily falling to the lowest-of-lows (Happening), his career wasn't so much a roller coaster as a log-flume-drop with seemingly no end. So while 2014's Visit was a nice rise back to quality, Split is a true return. A bold, original vision that hearkens his earlier work; a fascinating mixture of drama, horror and psychological world-building. Following the recent trend of "kidnapped-and-trapped-with-a-crazy-man" (10 Cloverfield Lane, Room), a trio of teenage girls are captured by a disturbed man (McAvoy) with 23 different split personalities. It's clear Shyamalan did extensive research, as the attention to and mentions of real-life disorder case studies is impressive. McAvoy's giant performance had every chance to be obnoxiously overacted, yet his commitment and intrigue ultimately wins each scene. His moments with his psycho-therapist are intuitive and curious, with an underpinning of unknown menace, as it all leads to an emotionally difficult message about handling and living with trauma. On top of all this, Split's ending surprise, a trademark of Shyamalan's, may be his best and most satisfying since The Sixth Sense. Still, even with all the good in Shyamalan's, he still has his hang-ups, many of which are on display here. For all the powerful horror visuals, ominously toned pacing, and humor that wonderfully walks the line between funny and disturbing, his direction makes the performances feel fairly unnatural, and his dialogue is sometimes oddly stilted and explicitly expositional. Despite the messiness and weak script moments, Split is an enveloping psychological thriller whose yarn is dutifully weaved with darkness and intrigue.