Split

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2020)

M. Night Shyamalan IS BACK! After a sixteen & a half year lay-off from the Eastrail177 series, we FINALLY get the stand alone sequel! Being away for so long, Shyamalan was able to appreciate other film making styles & makers, that he meticulously picked his crew to create Split. Shyamalan hand-selected Mark Gioulakis, after seeing the beautiful cinematography in It Follows, Mara LePere-Schloop, after seeing the creative & authentic production design in Django Unchained, West Dylan Thordson after his best composition in Joy, and also came up on a diamond in the rough find, in James McAvoy. Shyamalan has this articulate sense of direction & story telling; Split is a movie you need to be patient with, and able to embrace from the start, because if you don't, you're probably not going to have the best time. With a few filler scenes, the pacing can be a bit choppy at times, but fulfilles this high octane tone, being very suspenseful, and satisfyingly unsettling.
My god, James McAvoy shines bright here! In order to put on such amazing performances (if you will), McAvoy really got into his role off the camera, as well as on. I personally believe that he got completely robbed of at least an Oscar nomination, regardless of when the movie was released. He did a great job sharing the wealth with Anya Taylor-Joy, who also put on a great performance. Anya Taylor-Joy just shot the movie The Witch last year, and carried her talent onto Split. Taylor-Joy is such a FANTASTIC young actress, that sells her emotions as authentic as possible. Her character development started right from the beginning, and didn't stop, due to all of the layers her character has. Betty Buckley put on a decent performance, being a nice, optimistic inspiration to McAvoy. The other two actresses in Haley Lu Richardson & Jessica Sula were nothing but plot devices. Their emotions were just okay, while having easily the worst dialogues out of all the characters.
The script by M. Night Shyamalan had a lot of intriguing dialogue, that sat in such an uneasy way at times. He really takes his time to tell the story he wants to tell, fleshing out each character & plot point as much as possible. M. Night kept up with his little humor flare, adding in just enough laughs.
Mike Gioulakis utilized a lot of dull colors, and dark lighting to create this suspenseful, and creepy tone throughout each scene. This dark, claustrophobic, basement set Mara LePere-Schloop created, leaves you at the edge of your seat at all times.
Overall, Split was a success! I didn't quiet enjoy it more than Unbreakable, due to some inconsistencies, and structure issues, but nonetheless, still a solid film, and a great addition to the trilogy.