One of the surprise hits of early 2017 is M. Night Shyamalan's return to mainstream cinema. for years, even the slightest appearance of Shyamalan's name on a trailer caused a plethora of groans to break out in any cinema it appeared. However, with Split, Shyamalan finds success similar to the beginning of his career. Hearing all of the hype, I decided to check it out myself.
First of all, I have to analyze this movie as a psychology major, and someone who works with individuals with special needs. Split is incredibly ignorant to people with Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID), which the villain, Kevin has been diagnosed with. Very few cases of DID contain twenty-four distinct alter personalities. Also, to suggest that the disease could give humans actual superhuman powers is absolutely ludicrous. The film also furthers mental health stigmas to a very high degree. It is already perceived that people with mental health issues should be ostracized as they are dangerous and unpredictable. Instead, as a society, we need to come together and focus on treatment and to the understanding that mental health is no different than physical health. Okay, now to come off my soapbox, and actually review the movie.
Split does its job as a thriller, most of the time. There are a few times where myself, and the audience as a whole, was not sure if they were supposed to be afraid, or audibly laugh at how ridiculous James McAvoy's performance is at that time. I have to give praise to Anya Taylor-Joy, a young actress who is becoming one of the best young talents emerging in horror and thrillers in the past couple of years. When Split had finished, I had felt I was entertained, actually horrified by the amount of blood they allowed in a Pg-13 movie, and that Shyamalan had delivered his first good product in over 15 years. Then, the credits rolled, and post credit sequence occurred... Iw ill show my score for the movie, without this sequence, and with the sequence below
(Grade: 6.5/10)
DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN SPLIT. SPOILERS ARE AHEAD
Shyamalan did a twist on his own trademark twist ending. Having Bruce Willis appear as his Unbreakable character David Dunn was an enjoyable twist I did not see coming. Having Split and Unbreakable come together in a shared universe is a clever way to start an inevitable sequel. The post-credits sequence makes me want to give Split a slightly better score.
(Grade: 7/10)
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