Had the potential to be a great film but it all crashes down on a borderline idiotic twist.

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2017)

M. Night Shyamalan's Split pits a ground of teenage girls against their captor (James McAvoy) and his plethora of multiple personalities with each personality ranging from harmless to deadly. First off, I want to say, I did enjoy the first hour or so of this film. It was creepy, tense, tasteless but fun. Then the final hour comes steam rolling everything in its wake including all the thought and caring that we've grown to have over the course of the previous hour. It is not one thing or another, it's a willingness to halt the film's growth as it's own and by the final minute of the film, everyone will know what I am talking about. As for spoilers, I'm not going to spoiling anything which makes my thoughts that much harder to gather.
While I'm not a complete film snob, I do expect certain things going into an M. Night Shyamalan film. If you were talking to me before The Village, I'd say that I would expect a creepy atmospheric film. If you're asking me post-Village, I'd simply say "Dear God, I hope it's good." The Visit was somewhat back on track for him so I was excited to see this but instead I'm leaving this film actually giving up hope. The twist is so lazy and so out-of-left- field that it diminishes any sort of weight. It is merely a gimmick rather than a clever little twist, especially for a Shyamalan film. Honestly, it single handily ruined the film for me. It is a singular moment that completely drains Split of any real merit as a standalone film.
Like I said, James McAvoy gives a chilling performance that sometimes goes over-the-top but still maintains a level of creepiness without it ever being overbearing. Anya Taylor-Joy gives a very good performance as well as Casey, who gives a better performance here than in last year's terrifying yet overrated The Witch. The rest of the cast plays out the typical female horror characters to a fault and actually fails to breathe new life in a very tiring role.
Overall, Split is a film that could have cut out it's so-called "twist" and been a fun midnight movie, a solid 7/10. But instead M. Night Shyamalan delivers his laziest twist to date in hopes of continuing the trend that is a M. Night Shyamalan film. A term that used to mean something, now is played out to a gimmicky effect and we all know Shyamalan is so much better than that. And while I'm sure the "twist" will wet some hardcore fans' appetite, it made the film that much more trivialized.