I’m glad that M. Night Shyamalan has wandered out of the
wilderness of big budget mistakes and has returned to the world of modest thrillers.
His distinct voice has been sorely missed in the genre, something I didn’t
realize until the arrival last year of The Visit, an entertaining piece of
business that followed the director’s method to a tee, providing the audience
with an odd premise that gets creepier and creepier as it goes, all capped off
with a satisfactory twist ending.
His latest effort is more of the same, albeit less
successful in execution. Split deals with a troubled man by the name of
Kevin, or is it Barry? Then again it
could be Hedwig. Actually, they’re all
the same person as James McAvoy gets to show his range, and then some, as his
character has 23 different personalities and is actually working on a 24th. He has issues, to say the least, and while he
does his best to contain his demons, sometimes that’s not good enough, as
Dennis succumbs to his basest desires and kidnaps three teenage girls (Anya
Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula).
This sets up an interesting game of cat-and-mouse as the
trio of captives have a hard time assessing the danger they’re in, what with
their captor changing personalities at the drop of a dime. Also of note, is an interesting theory
floated by therapist Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who posits that those
suffering with multiple personalities are actually on a higher evolutionary
plain than the rest of us. Needless to
say, she’s proven correct in a most horrific manner
While the premise is solid, the film trips itself up with
far too many lapses in logic. There are
numerous occasions where our heroines could escape or incapacitate their captor
but don’t, obvious manipulations used to prolong the plot. In addition, Shyamalan’s deliberate sense of
pacing kills some of the suspense in the third act, leaving the viewer
impatient for his trademark, out-of-left field ending. He doesn’t disappoint in this regard but it’s
long haul to the payoff, as the film could use a 20-minute trim.
 To be sure, Split contains a vital theme, taking the
notion that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger to the nth degree, while
its portrait of young women who refuse to victimized is timely and vital. I just wish it hadn’t taken so long to get to
these salient points.
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2017.
