Night returns to glorious form with Split

Rating: 10/10 (30 August 2018)

Forgetiing the connections between unbreakable and Split, director and writer M. Night Shaymalan has made his best movie probably since...there's not a ton of debate about Shyamalan's best film, Sixth Sense, it made the Indian director who he is and he progressed with a string of excellent movies from then on, unbreakable was a incredible return and then he even doubled his credibility with the excellent Signs. Split would rank in as his 4th best film, and is not only a fascinating look at dissociative identity disorder with the almost credible supernatural element considering, psychoneurologies recent discoveries of our brain and quantum theory. It is hard to believe James McAvoy, though he was not the first choice for the role but became the best choice did not wrack up a myriad of awards. He just seems to be that type of actor, even in Atomic Blonde that gets the parts perfect but never gets the recognition. He knows his talents and huge following we will even forgive him for being scottish. The Village then caught viewers off guard and was a clever follow up to his straight horror, Devil was his first film he allowed input from another director, and for me it deserved more recognition, fans just weren't sure if this was an official NigHT film But it definitely was and he even plans a sequel seeing now his proposed filim of combining unbreakable with split. Sometimes it can all just all end in the directors head. Night though having his critics for The Village, seemed to begin a period when his writing could not end stories. The Hapenning, was for the most part a suspenseful thriller, and then Night, seemed to forget he had to write an ending. It was half a film and the aura Night had carried as a master film maker was slowly beginning to dim. But it gets even worse.The VISIT is next on Night's catalogue, it doesn't realise any great heights and Night would attempt, it never becomes scary and often you feel it could even be a comedy, the story showed again that at times his story telling wanders have a dispelling effect rather than hypnotising. I cannot say it but rating it this idea shows how ponderous and loose in story telling Lady in the water, was supposedly inspired from a tale he told his children when they slept and thats where it should have stayed. There is an incredible discord between his brilliance of his earlier movies and Lady in the water which now left his reputation on the scrap heap. But it gets even worse. If he was trying to change genre, surprise viewers, but I cannot what was worse. The last Air Bender, an anime, was close to hos most clueless work. By now studios should have realised Night was out of ideas for original scripts and if anyone could sit through this they truly deserve an award. I was shocked when I realised it was a Night movie and realised the man had some serious soul searching to even add an ounce of felt to his now crestfallen career. But believe if you will, if this was a favour for Will Smith, Night made the worst of all his films trying his best to show that Jaden Smith can act. Well he cannot. And I hope he is never cast again. Never mind a ludicrous storyline, Will Smith even added that the flm was the most painful moment of his career. It surely also was Night's biggest plodding mess and ranks as the nadir of his career, a low of lows. I have skipped out some earlier Night movie's as they are far from his Hollywood conquests.
So it was with absolute relief that we have waited since Devil for a Night film, that can be added to his classics. He clearly will not make other film makers scripts and I am hoping he doesn't get too entangled in his obsession with the unbreakable/split idea. Sequels are the fashion and if he can get McAvoy and Bruce Willis together and write a tight script there is potential. We all love many of his films but 10 to 20 years hanging around, surely should show him he either must allow for extra help on the scripts . He was my favourite director before christopher nolan brothers and having Night make if not regular but hypnotic, supernatural films would be a fantastic pleasure. p.s it is worrying if the Nolan brothers are going the same way after the plodding dull fest of Dunkirk. I dont know it was rated an 8, most likely due to director reputation but we know how quickly that fades. Split is worth every moment and a wonderful return to form for Night even if we had to wait.....