What a Twist! (A Quick Word On Split)
- Alexandro Guerrero
- Apr 10, 2017
- 2 min read
As is the nature of these "quick word" reviews, I'll try to keep it relatively short in regards to M. Night Shyamalan's Split.
Plenty has already been said about the director and his "return to form" as of late, and Split merits some praise. It keeps things intense by limiting the scope to a few characters and primarily delving deeper into the psyche of the two leads in James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy.
Anya's performance was fine, as was the other two girls that were kidnapped along with her, however, this movie was carried by McAvoy. It's a lot to ask of someone to play a character with multiple personalities, but McAvoy did great. His subtle facial expressions and mannerisms make every character he portrays both believable and unique, it's quite clear when one of his personalities starts to fade away as another takes control, but it is done in a way that seems almost effortless.
There is a subplot involving a doctor who studies Dissociative Identity Disorder, that runs parallel to the main plot of the movie, that serves as a means of dumping all sorts of exposition and context around who McAvoy's character. At times I was scratching my head on some of the scenes involving the doctor, not because they were narratively confusing, but because they felt unnecessary, the pacing of some of the scenes killed a lot of the momentum of the film as well. I couldn't help but feel the way the doctor was implemented was just lazy writing to pad out time or to try and hold the audience's hand through its concepts.
Though the film at times makes an effort to bring awareness to the very real disorder, it certainly takes liberties and sensationalizes it to a degree that seems counterproductive to the cause. It isn't the only "message" the film tries to loosely address, though it fleshes out Anya's character, this second "message" feels a bit lazy as well in terms of writing.
Split is a solid thriller, with classic M. Night Shyamalan twists sprinkled on top (as is expected), a worthwhile watch if solely just for McAvoy's show stopping performance.
7.5 Crop-Circles out of 10
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