A slow burner without a Shyamalan Twist Ending

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2018)

I like M. Night Shyamalan movies. They were sort of a commodity in the late 90s/early 2000s. "Signals" has to be my fave Shyamalan movie because I think it's his most original. "The 6th Sense" was like a watered down "Jacob's Ladder". With "Split", we deal with a psycho with multiple (and I mean MULTIPLE) personality disorder. 23 personalities linger inside James McAvoy's character, if I reckon.
Shyamalan's movies became famous for their "twist" ending: you expect one thing and get something totally unexpected. It's a gimmick that would eventually wear off as his movie career progressed. With "Split", he doesn't pull any sort of twist ending, which in this particular case would've elevated the movie to far higher level. Story plots are left unexplained or for the audience to figure out (after subsequent viewings, I might add). James McAvoy's performance is indeed OSCAR worthy, but that's about it. The movie drags along at a excruciating slow pace, giving little to no explanation to what happened before.
Having a psychiatric patient this sick out on his own was the film's first major mistake. I've worked with psychiatrists before and know for a FACT they would never let anyone resembling James McAvoy's character out in the open. This is a patient that requires heavy medication and heavy surveillance, yet he was living all by "himself" making a living doing god knows what.
The idea behind "Split" is fascinating; mental disorders can become great Hollywood fodder but in this case, Shyamalan fell very short. What's worse: linking this movie to his previous film, "Unbreakable" (a certified snore fest) does not help at all. At least "Split" is a superior movie than "Unbreakable". So sad he had to link both movies.