'Split' review: M. Night Shyamalan's new film is a tense, entertaining mess
Los Angeles -- James McAvoy must have jumped at the chance to star in Split.
His role, which involves playing a character with disassociate identity disorder (DID) and rapidly switching between different personalities, is surely a dream for any actor, and that's before you even come onto the fact it's a new M. Night Shyamalan movie he's starring in.
And McAvoy, at least, nails it. He breaks out his full actor's arsenal of ticks and affectations, playing some personalities with a twitchy humour and others with a blank creepiness that produces laughs and tension in equal measure. It works.
It's just a shame the film as a whole doesn't.
SEE ALSO:Critics love M. Night Shyamalan's split-personality movie, apparently?Splitrevolves around McAvoy's character Kevin kidnapping a trio of teenage girls and keeping them trapped in a gloomy underground room for ominous -- if initially unclear -- reasons.
The opening abduction sequence is Shyamalan at his creepy best. We watch as three girls -- Claire, Marcia and Casey -- leave the former's birthday party. Claire's dad is giving them a ride home. One of the girls, Casey -- played with an eerie blankness by Anya Taylor-Joy -- seems a bit odd, but we can't quite put our finger on why. The camera tracks Casey's haunted face as she climbs into the front seat of the car, while Claire's dad -- who lingers behind to shut the trunk -- is approached by an unseen stranger.
Everything about this scene works beautifully. The lingering shots, the unnerving atmosphere, the sudden explosion of violence -- all of these things blend together to create the kind of tension that made Shyamalan's earlier films so much fun to watch.
But sadly, it doesn't last. Although the film keeps up its suspense well into the third act, it's not long before the cracks start to show.
The film's female characters are a problem. They're well-acted, but they feel bland and underwritten. Casey's backstory unfolds in a series of grim flashbacks, but -- aside from offering an explanation as to why she's so withdrawn -- it doesn't really fit with the film's central plot.
Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula), meanwhile, are entirely two-dimensional; they feel as though they've been written in purely to add some dialogue and a bit of suspense during their predictably unsuccessful escape attempts. Betty Buckley has a slightly meatier role as Kevin's therapist Dr. Fletcher, but again -- apart from a few entertainingly tense exchanges during their sessions together -- she doesn't have a great deal to do.
The other problem is Split's central concept. The idea that split personalities can develop their own unique physical characteristics that defy our knowledge of the human brain is an interesting one, but it really runs out of steam. The more we learn about Kevin's reasons for keeping the girls, and the more we find out about his ominous 24th personality, "The Beast," the less mysterious the film becomes. The tension leaks out.
And speaking of the film's final act, it's not giving too much away to say that there's an unexpected easter egg hiding towards the conclusion (this is an M. Night Shyamalan film, after all). As much as this semi-twist may appeal to many fans of Shyamalan's films, it also feels sort of cheap; it's like Shyamalan didn't quite know what to do with the ending, so he tried to crow-bar in something unexpected as a flimsy distraction.
James McAvoy's performance carries 'Split'.Credit: universal picturesDespite all of these issues, though, it's worth stressing that the film is still a lot of fun to watch. The tension might not be there for the full two-hour run-time, but it's there for most of it, and McAvoy really does shine; in fact the movie would almost be worth seeing for his energetic performance alone.
Shyamalan is ultimately a man of brilliant imagination and ideas, with a great talent for dialogue, atmosphere and suspense. We've seen what he can do when he's at his absolute best -- his name immediately conjures memories of Unbreakableand The Sixth Sense; it's a brand associated with some of the greatest supernatural thrillers of the last century.
But it's also a name that inspires a weight of expectations, and when the elements don't quite gel together -- as is the case with Split-- the result is all the more frustrating for it.
Featured Video For You
The most anticipated movies of 2017
TopicsReviews
(责任编辑:关于我们)
- Keurig K Mini deal — get $30 off at Target
- Lautaro leads Argentina into Copa quarters
- North Korea completed new 3,000
- 2.6 slight tremor occurs in Incheon
- 共同推动雅安职工思想政治引领数智化发展工作做深做实
- Deceased K
- 名山县对选调乡镇国土员进行岗前培训
- 喜迎党的十八大 老少同乐过重阳
- FM dismisses Chinese media's calls to restrict THAAD operations
- Norris stuns Verstappen at Dutch GP
- Leaders of Korea, Uzbekistan agree to bolster ties
- 'Joker and Harley Quinn' movie coming to Warner Bros. with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie
- 市政协召开三届七次主席会议传达学习省政协十届十九次常委会精神
-
Amazon Android Days sale 2024: Save on unlocked phones, tablets, and more
Table of ContentsTable of ContentsUPDATE: Aug. 28, 2024, 1:50 p.m. EDT This story has been updated w ...[详细] -
Kylie Jenner finally spills what led to her breakup with Tyga
Whether you try to keep up or not, there's already so much about Kylie Jenner's life that we know, b ...[详细] -
Hazlewood doubts ‘drastic’ changes in Australia
SYDNEY:Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood believes there is no “drastic” need to cull Australia& ...[详细] -
As the saying goes: Another month, another disconcerting report from top U.S. climate agencies.Last ...[详细]
-
It's Unnecessary But, AMD Is Basically Lying About CPU Performance
Did you know that AMD's old Zen 3 architecture, released back in late 2019, is actually faster for g ...[详细] -
Joss Whedon revelations: Fans react
It's been a rough weekend for Joss Whedon fans.On Sunday, TheWrappublished a doozy of an essay by Ka ...[详细] -
“大概再过半个月,新的专卖店就可以开张了。”四川省雅安义兴藏茶有限公司以下简称“义兴藏茶”)总经理郭承义欣喜地说,现在是万事俱备只欠东风,等装修完成、产品到位,义兴藏茶在名山县城的专卖店就可以开门迎客 ...[详细]
-
North Korea's Kim visits family tomb to pay tribute to grandfather
People visit the statues of their late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il on the occasion of the Da ...[详细] -
By the time I tapped out of Persona 5after 60 hours of a massive high school adventure that I was en ...[详细]
-
Defector group sends propaganda leaflets into North Korea in defiance of ban
Fighters for a Free North Korea leader Park Sang-hak in a video the group released on Friday, where ...[详细]
LG Display starts production of advanced OLED displays for gaming
Hazlewood doubts ‘drastic’ changes in Australia
- Speeding space object triggered a warning. It wasn't an asteroid.
- 皇茗园茶业 茶界中的全能型选手
- 石棉县人民检察院注重未成年人帮教 副检察长出庭公诉
- Rohit Sharma defends India's reverse swing after Inzamam's allegations
- “精致小春姐”顾春芳:华丽白西装、镶钻水晶拖鞋,带来新兴凉果No.1
- North Korea’s top 15 nuclear and missile targets: report
- Lautaro leads Argentina into Copa quarters