An Unequivocal Return to Form for Shyamalan

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2017)

I haven't yet seen The Visit, but Split is unequivocally a return to form for Shyamalan. He is well and truly back with his own tropes and tricks and they're wonderful to behold. There's two things Shyamalan has always been synonymous with, and that's suspense and twist endings, and both are back in full force.
My heart was racing for the vast majority of the entire movie. He knows how to film and frame a sequence to put you in unease, and punctuate it with movements both sudden and slow, to give the scenes an aura of unpredictability. You could feel the tension in the cinema screening as everyone was brought to the edge of their seats. Entire rows of seats would jolt at sudden jumps as the suspense is built and released, but never lets up. There's a moment where one of Kevin's personalities briefly lets the girls out so they can eat on a table. The fear on the girls eyes as they look for an opportunity to escape is palpable, and the suspense of being in such close, open proximity to an individual so fundamentally unpredictable. This sense of unpredictability is punctuated perfectly by a sudden slam of a knife on the table out of petty frustration, as one of Kevin's personalities is upset that they didn't cut a sandwich in a straight line. The girl a couple of seats over from me jumped so hard that the entire row shook. This is cinema at it's finest.
Of course the driving factor of Split is James McAvoy's ability to effortlessly and convincingly shift between multiple different characters. Kevin is the core personality at the centre of it all, but we never really meet him. His body is taken over by a number of other individuals who all fight amongst themselves and oppress each other in a bid to take control. There's Dennis who's OCD drives him to disgust whenever things aren't clean, coupled with a penchant for watching young girls dance. He shares the "light" with Patricia, a well-spoken, older woman who has her own quirks and desire for control. Dennis and Patricia have taken over in order to usher in a mysterious 24th personality they refer to as The Beast. Their takeover was possible thanks to Hedwig, a 9-year old boy who enjoys dancing to Kanye West, and has the ability to take the light whenever he wants, without restriction from the others. These three are the main ones in control, but under the surface the others are fighting. Diabetic young woman Jade, homosexual fashion designer Barry, and nerdy, fact- spewing Orwell all bubble tentatively beneath the surface, yearning for help whenever they can get a chance. And this is all inside McAvoy's performance, which is nothing short of spectacular. He emphasises each one with their own mannerisms, accents, and body language. He slides into the guise of an older woman just as easily as he can embody the psych of a 9-year old boy.
And yet despite the slathering of suspense and dark subject matter, from kidnapping to paedophilia to cannibalism, Split has it's lighter moments that help break it up a bit and make it more bearable. Again, this is almost entirely thanks to McAvoy who's sense of comedic timing and knack for facial expressions owes to some genuinely hilarious moments. Hedwig is the big character to blame for this, being as charmingly innocent as only a child could be. His warning that Casey could be pregnant after an awkward first kiss is hilarious in it's innocence, and his performance to music in front of her is physical humour at it's finest.
While I've so far only given praise to Shyamalan and McAvoy, there are certainly other members of the cast and crew who deserve a mention. The sheer levels of suspense and unease wouldn't have been possible without the combined marriage of Mike Gioulakis' cinematography and West Dylan Thordson's sometimes eery and sometimes beautiful score. Anya Taylor-Joy proves that she is a force to be reckoned with, with a performance as Casey that straddles between fearful and patiently wise.
Split is, as I've already mentioned, a welcome return to form for Shyamalan. His brand of filmmaking, holding that special something that makes for solidly entertaining viewing, has once again returned thanks to his smaller budget and focus on actors and what limited tools he had available. Split is a suspenseful movie fundamentally about child abuse and the effects it can have once those children grow up. It's full of dark ideas and concepts and offsets them with genuine charm and humour. A solid eight/eight and a half out of ten movie. However that's not the end. The final reveal after the end of the movie somehow changes Split while not actually touching it at all. It's an ingenious twist that not everyone will fully understand, but it's a twist that will forever stick with me as one of cinema's greatest moments. So much so, that it boosts my entire rating up to an incredible 9/10. Go and see Split. Go and see it before the ending is ruined for you.