Review of Split (2017) by Zach S — 20 Mar 2017

The originality of a movie is very important because no one wants to go out and watch a movie they have basically seen before. With most thriller/horror movies, they basically follow the same plot; a group of friends or family go out into the woods or move into a new house then stuff starts to get weird. This movie could not be more different. Unlike most films in the genre, the antagonist in this film is a schizophrenic man who holds twenty-three identities within him. Just the fact that the antagonist wasn't some monster or someone possessed makes it more interesting and original. Also, the protagonist in this story is kidnapped with two other girls, but they are not friends. Like I stated earlier, this movie generated a lot of buzz in social media before its release because of the use of a mental illness. Mental illness is a kind of taboo thing in movies, but I think it was good for people to get an insight on how schizophrenia works, even if it was a bit exaggerated.

Using the best actors doesn't exactly mean that your film will be the best. This movie is very intense and has a lot of suspense which means there is a lot of emotion being expressed. Kevin, who was played by James McAvoy was amazing. Remind you, Kevin has schizophrenia so he is acting out multiple personalities throughout the movie. He acted out personalities of a child, woman, and multiple men in which he had to change his voice, posture, and facial expressions. Seeing him change from scene to scene and dedicating to the personality he was portraying was unbelievable. Also, in most of his movies he plays a protagonist so it was interesting to see him play the bad guy. The actor for Casey, the main girl who was kidnapped also did a wonderful job. I have not seen her featured in any other films, but you would not know from her performance. The emotion she showed was great.

Now comes the most important aspect of any film, the plot. The story to this movie is very original and equally interesting. The turn of events that make up this movie will keep your eyes peeled, and your butt on the edge of your seat. This movie includes some flashbacks that shed some insight on what kind of person Casey was and how she became the kind of person she is. The final meeting of "the beast" and Casey gives the watcher a sense of self-realization. If you have seen any other M. Night Shyamalan movie you know that he loves to add a twist to the end, and he did not skip a beat with this one. The ending of the film features a cameo of Bruce Willis naming someone from a past M. Night film, Unbreakable.