For those who
doubt it, here’s me confirming it: M. Night Shyamalan is back to his glory days
with this psychological horror movie, Split.
To be honest, I
never thought Shyamalan would be able to get back on his feet again. After he
made us acknowledge his ability as a master filmmaker with The Sixth Sense (1999)
and got us addicted to watching Unbreakable (2000) multiple times to
appreciate his awesome story arc style, he started to dip with Signs (2002)—a
good movie, but not great. Things went downhill from there, with him making
movies that were either box office disasters or critical nightmares.
I guess it’s
great to go back to a style that earned you respect, and Split is
that movie for Shyamalan. It’s a thematic sequel to Unbreakable (2000).
Waiting seventeen years for a follow-up to Unbreakable is a big deal,
and while the movie works well as a standalone, it’s in the last few minutes
that you’ll make the connection. It’s a very subtle link, but it sparks
curiosity about what Shyamalan will do next, now that he’s tied these two
movies together—one showing an all-around good guy and the other showing an
abused child who grows up to become the all-around bad villain.
There’s a lot to
admire in James McAvoy’s performance as he switches between characters,
especially toward the end. The other actors in the movie served their purpose,
but none could deliver a performance as resounding as McAvoy’s.
The movie’s plot
centers around Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), who suffers from
dissociative identity disorder (DID) and has 23 prominent personalities. In
this movie, the personalities we get to see are Kevin himself, Dennis,
Patricia, and Hedwig.
Dennis kidnaps
three young girls and keeps them locked in an unknown location. He continues to
see Kevin’s psychologist, pretending to be Kevin to keep up appearances while
waiting for a major event in Kevin’s life.
Two of Kevin’s
personalities warn the others about the arrival of the 24th personality, known
as “The Beast,” a hybrid of dangerous wild animals. The three kidnapped girls
are being kept as offerings for The Beast’s arrival.
The movie plays
through the events leading up to the emergence of the 24th personality, and we
get to see if he truly possesses the superhuman abilities that Dennis and
Patricia have been telling the others about. They refer to this collective as
“The Horde.”
Split is a movie I can confidently recommend. If you enjoy it, you’ll likely be as curious as I am about what Shyamalan will do next.
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