Review of Split (2017) by Saintdecky — 23 Feb 2017

Split is the latest movie from M. Night Shyamalymalmaylmalmalmya, and though it is not his worst work, it is just...okay.

Acting: James McAvoy was fantastic, delivering a memorable performance. It takes a lot to pull off multiple different characters, and he pulled it off amazingly. Otherwise the acting was just okay. The main girl was fine, but one of the two girls wasn't very good, and other almost felt like she was over-acting a bit.

Characters: I wish that either we spent more time with all 23 personalities, or there were less of them, because we only got to spend a lot of time with about 5 of them. Otherwise, there's not much development going on besides the main girl and a little bit of McAvoy's character(s). The other two girls have nothing to do besides wearing nearly nothing and freaking out.

Plot: The plot is pretty basic, but I thought the movie did a great job of building up suspense at times, mostly towards the beginning as it started wearing off towards the end. Even the few jumpscares that were spoiled by the trailers still got my heart beating. Even the initial capture of the girls got my pulse to speed up, even though I know what's going to happen.

Script: Meh. Probably should have had an actual scriptwriter write the film. But it doesn't drag the movie down completely. It's passable at the least.

Directing: I think it is better for Shyamalan to be working on lower budgets in his recent films, as he becomes a bit less ambitious and doesn't try and show off. Of course, a twist is still present though not too satisfying, but it feels like Shyamalan is trying to take a step back. All the money can go to your head, especially after his initial successes.

Overall, Split is successful at creating suspense and tension, but is otherwise not terribly memorable, and I know some people who are upset at the way they portray mental illnesses as bad and dangerous, especially DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder).