'Split' fails to deliver the thrills... and a twist

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2017)

I just returned from a viewing of Split and I am a tad bit disappointed to say the least. As I am sure many other went into this movie, I myself was expecting the classic Shyamalan 'twist'. Instead, we got a 2 hour movie that fell short of the thrills, and realistically only built up to this ending everyone is so excited about. Let it be known that Split doesn't actually have a twist like you would normally expect. In The Sixth Sense we learned that Bruce Willis' character was actually dead the whole time. In The Visit, we learned that the grandparents weren't actually the real grandparents. In The Village, it was eventually revealed that this entire film was actually taking part in modern times. It was these twists in the film that really made me enjoy each and every single Shyamalan film (maybe except The Happening). So I was ecstatic going into Split after seeing the praise and great ratings this film was getting. I am not saying this film is HORRIBLE, I am saying it was extremely disappointing. I will say that James McAvoy really killed this role and was extremely enjoyable to watch throughout. The movie itself wasn't really thrilling to me by any means. The whole film built up to this "Beast" idea. We do actually get to see this beast! McAvoy literally transformed into this character that was untouchable, fast, and strong among many other things. The "twist", however, is by far the most disappointing thing. At the very end of the film after we see "Split" pop up on the screen, we are then panned to a scene at a diner. In this diner is where we discover that Bruce Willis reprises his role from Unbreakable (which is also a Shyamalan film). This is where I am annoyed immensely from this film. For someone like me, I have never had the chance of seeing Unbreakable, so what does this ending mean to me? I had to do some research to try and understand the meaning of Bruce Willis saying "Mr. Glass" before the end credits popped up. I am certain that the viewers who had the chance to see Unbreakable were very excited to see this scene. Though, to me, it meant absolutely nothing. The film wasn't horrible, it was disappointing.