Split

This review may contain spoilers!

I think we're still a long way off from stating that M. Night Shyamalan movies are back to being good. I would give Split a 6/10.

What I have to give this film credit for is creating a very complex and tragic antagonist figure, this is not necessarily a film that horrifies disassociative identity disorder but rather shows how a person who suffers DID is a victim of a society set against him. The psychological ideas behind how DID works in the film is an interesting analysis of multiple psyches and their impacts upon Kevin physiology. The tone of the film is very tense, you don't always know which of Kevin's identities is going to emerge next, furthermore the threat of what is going to the leading women in this film is constantly at play and leaves you on the edge of your seat in a few places. The score for the film is very haunting, it does a good job of showing discord and setting you on edge.

Anya Taylor-Joy, who played Casey Cooke, does a fairly good job as protagonist of this film; the depth to her role that we're exposed to slowly shows that Taylor-Joy is a master at bringing dimensions to her role. Betty Buckley, who played Dr. Karen Fletcher, was a very measured and intellectual role; it was incredible to see the rapport she had with McAvoy and how convincing she was as a psychiatrist trained to deal with multiple identities.

However the best performance came from James McAvoy, who played Kevin Wendell Crumb, Dennis, Patricia, Hedwig, The Beast etc. This film was really McAvoy giving a masterclass in how to act, the amount of work a film like this would have taken for an actor in his position is immense. There are many details to each character, how they handle themselves or little quirks that they have which McAvoy develops flawlessly over the course of the feature. What I think really stands to his credit is how unique and well developed each persona feels, not a one feels like a stereotype. McAvoy treats this role with great deference and I think it's a testament to his range and ability as an actor.

This film really could have worked harder to develop the kidnapped victims in this film, the two-dimensional quality to their characters is a big reason why it was so hard to remain engaged with the narrative of the film. This extends to the character of Casey, her backstory was fairly predictable and you knew that if The Beast emerged that she too would be bound to have superhuman abilities; unfortunately this will go down as a fairly predictable and lazy twist. The ending was also a bit of an anti-climax, The Beast's confrontation with Casey didn't end in a satisfying way and really just felt like sequel bait. The cinematography attempted to be artistic but really the lack of focus and incessant movement just made everything appear sloppily filmed. The editing moved at a rather slow rate for a horror film, often taking it's time and refusing to advance the action at a satisfying rate.

Haley Lu Richardson, who played Claire Benoit, gives one of the most cardboard teen girl horror film performances that I've seen in a while; the narrative forgot about her early on and so did I. Jessica Sula, who played Marcia, had very little screen presence in this feature; Sula never really created a role that felt real and instead played very closely to what little lines she had. Izzie Coffey, Brad William Henke and Sebastian Arcelus, who played Five Year Old Casey, Uncle John and Casey's Father respectively, were all rather dull performers; this trio rather stiffly dealt out Casey's backstory which meant you cared for the character a little less. Bruce Willis, who played David Dunn, just didn't need to be teased at the end of this film; his little cameo to push a sequel felt like a forced and out of place move.