There's nothing to spoil...

Rating: 5/10 (20 February 2017)

The movie opens with three girls named Claire, Marcia, and Casey. Marcia and Claire are both assumed popular girls while Casey is somewhat of an outsider. The girls enter the car and Claire's father is attacked in broad daylight at the trunk of the car by Kevin, our antagonist. Claire and Marcia are consumed by their cell phones in the backseat while this is happening. Casey, in the front is lost in thought. Kevin enters the car and proceeds to spray some sort of aerosol mist that renders the girls unconscious. Cue the opening credits.
M. Night's splitting opening credit sequence (maybe my favorite part of the film) almost lends it's shuttery changing animation as a visual metaphor for Kevin's 23 personalities. In a style, reminiscent of something you may find in Hitchcock's catalogue.
We are now in some sort of basement/boiler room setting where the three young girls are being held captive in a small room. We start to meet the different versions of Kevin. As you may suspect, each version is quite different and in my opinion represented rather simplistically. For example, a strong masculine "Dennis" a feminine "Miss Patricia" and a child-like "Hedwig". Dennis informs the girls they are "feed" for the coming "Beast".
We spend the next good portion of the film watching the girls pathetically try to overcome Kevin (and friends) and escape captivity. There are cut scenes where we get to see Kevin being analyzed, or treated if you will, by his Psychiatrist Dr. Karen Fletcher. These scenes are rather pointless in an already slow moving, and undeserved lengthy film. Though we do learn, according to Dr. Fletcher, the "Beast" is just another undiscovered personality or even a fantastical imagination created by Kevin.
Casey steps up as our protagonist as she actually shows some depth in her character and tries to make good by Hedwig in an attempt to trick him into helping the girls escape. I've basically forgotten about Marcia and Claire at this point..Are they even alive? Do I even care?
Finally the "Beast" makes his appearance and we get a rather satisfactory kill scene. Credit where credit is due.. James McAvoy's over the top screen-whoring portrayals of the multiple identities is the only thing that kept me in it. Kudos to him, but it just wasn't enough. Split is blundery at times. It fails to create an atmosphere for suspense and it's never quite dark enough (literally and figuratively) to give any sense of concern or to feel sympathetic for any of the characters in any way.
That being said...
This movie IS watchable. Just don't be expecting "The Seventh Sense". As a fan of Shyamalan's early work, I have to say I'm yet again disappointed at his lapse in Direction. I wasn't expecting horror, but I was waiting the whole time for...SOMETHING.. Something that never came. Maybe we'll get it in the sequel.