"The broken are the more evolved"
"Split" isn't just a return to form from Shamalamadingdong, but an emotionally powerhouse of a thriller. Anyone who watched the trailer and think they have an idea of what it's gonna be, think again. Putting forward this guys history in films; this surprised the heck out of me.
The cinematography was excellent, same guy who did "It Follows" which was pretty neat. The film had the right balance of tone with comedy and horrific. One minute you're laughing at the intentional comedic scenes, but quickly change when you start to over think.
James McAvoy is absolutely fantastic in this movie. Every personality has a unique purpose to them and McAvoy makes the whole thing believable. Especially when he plays a little boy named Hedwig, who you actually care for and the childlike behavior McAvoy was done so perfectly. The scene when he starts dancing, had me laughing so hard when I saw it, but when I heard M. Night talk about the meaning behind it, it gave me chills. It's about a person dying and coming back to life.
Then again, "Kanye West is my main man".
Anya Taylor Joy was great in this too. Really impressing me from what I've seen from her so far, and might be the new face of horror movies. Her character arc was the most compelling part of the film and ties in very well with McAvoy characters. It's too bad Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula, the other captured girls, couldn't keep up with Anya. They performances were pretty bad and easily the worst part of the film.
It's not just them, some of the supporting actors who thankfully don't have much screen time, deliver such wooden performances. The film also suffers from M. Night's trademark, terribly written exposition. Other than that, this was a pretty solid film.
Overall rating: Welcome back M. Night Shyamalan, for real this time.
For those fortunate enough to know that this movie was the second of a trilogy, this may be a satisfying movie. The trilogy is M. Night Shyamalan's building his own subset of the superhero genre. His superheroes and villians don't have non-human powers (teleportation, invisibility, heat vision, etc.) but have enhanced human behaviours (survival instinct, empathy, intuition, a hero's heart). Once that is established, our expectations turn to psychological thrillers, as the personalities are explored and the extra- is added to -ordinary. For those looking for a horror movie, a fast paced thriller, or a superhero action movie, you will be thwarted by your genre expectations. Having said all that, here are my pluses and negatives: The acting is superb - James MacAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Izzie Coffey, especially. The premise and developing sub genre are interesting. The pacing is too slow for me, but that is Shyamalan's preferred pace in his movies, better than UNBROKEN but still too plodding for me (he writes for an intelligent audience, he should trust that they can keep up). There were some loose ends or lost opportunities for me, Casey Cooke's character, forged in torment, could have been the mirror superhero to our supervillain or at least she could have been enabled to finally escape from her abusive uncle. (Super up the girl's powers of observation and deduction, for Pete's sake). . I give this film a 6 (fair) out of 10. [Genisis of a Super Villain]
M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, Split, marks his return to smaller budget, tighter stories after a period of less successful films. The movie centers around a mysterious and unpredictable antagonist with 23 personalities, held captive in a bunker with a group of young girls. The film effectively creates a sense of danger and claustrophobia by alternating between the bunker and the offices of the girls' therapist. James McAvoy gives a standout performance as the captor, Kevin, showcasing his ability to convey different states of mind. The plot is a typical thriller, with moments of good thought and compelling scenes. However, the final act falls short, shifting towards a superhero theme and leaving some plot points unresolved. Overall, Split is a return to form for Shyamalan and sets up potential for more in this saga, with McAvoy's performance being a highlight.
La última película de M. Night Shyamalan, Split, marca su regreso a historias más ajustadas y de menor presupuesto después de un período de películas menos exitosas. La película se centra en un antagonista misterioso e impredecible con 23 personalidades, cautivo en un búnker con un grupo de chicas jóvenes. La película crea efectivamente una sensación de peligro y claustrofobia al alternar entre el búnker y las oficinas del terapeuta de las niñas. James McAvoy ofrece una actuación destacada como el captor, Kevin, mostrando su capacidad para transmitir diferentes estados de ánimo. La trama es un thriller típico, con momentos de buen pensamiento y escenas convincentes. Sin embargo, el acto final se queda corto, cambiando hacia un tema de superhéroes y dejando algunos puntos de la trama sin resolver. En general, Split es un regreso a la forma para Shyamalan y establece potencial para más en esta saga, con el desempeño de McAvoy como punto culminante.
I've said it before. I am a M. Night Shyamalan fan. His last movie, "The Visit", was a step in a positive direction after years of stumbling ("The Last Airbender", "After Earth", "The Happening"). "The Visit" wasn't a return to form, that form being my belief that he is a terrific director. Instead, it contained a number of elements and surprises that reminded me of his past successes. I'm talking about his first three films, "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable", and my personal favorite M. Night work, the love-it-or-hate-it, "Signs". Now "Split" is a return to that form. It can be added to the list of top-notch Shyamalan films.
"Split" looks wonderful. For being shot in what is basically a basement, it always looks interesting. There's no disorientation for the viewer. We are placed within the maze of halls and doorways and never feel lost. Regarding the cast, James McAvoy is great, and Anya Taylor-Joy is perfect as the savviest of the abducted teens.
I've talked up this film so far, but as I was watching it, I was having some trouble with all the talk of the "beast". Instead of letting the story play itself out, I was looking for the M. Night 'twist'. Trying to be smarter than a film by attempting to figure it out before it ends is something that I like to avoid. Yet, that's what I found myself doing and it was subtracting from my enjoyment of watching.
Then, when the "SPLIT" title screen flashed, I thought that the movie was over. I started to stand up feeling a bit underwhelmed. But wow...was I wrong. There was an additional scene with a reveal that knocked me over! What an amazing twist! Especially for a Shyamalan fan (and a 'twist' fan) like myself. It's not even that the twist sets up a future film that I want to see, which it did, and I do. It's just that it gave fuel to a previous story and offered a universe to a character that Shyamalan can himself build upon or that I can build in my own imagination.
As many others have stated before me, there are two sides in Split. One that shares great acting, and other that punishes us with a weak script and an even weaker development. Sadly, the latest prevails.
James McAvoy's performance is simply stunning. His ability to impersonate the multiple personalities of the main character is so impressive that makes you wish there were room for many others. Despite the 23 -or 24, if you prefer- identities advertised by the movie's plot, we can only see a bunch of them. Five if I remember correctly.
Anya Taylor-Joy's work is also a pretty good one. She shows a clear evolution since her appearance in The Witch, which lacked a bit on the emotive flank. While not being as outstanding as McAvoy, Taylor-Joy manages to show an above-average execution, in a genre plagued by mediocre acting.
On the dark side, which happens to outweight the bright one, we have a poorly written text (For example, Dr. Fletcher seems to always tackle the exact things needed to make the plot move forward, even when that means talking about previously unheard topics and asking out-of-nowhere questions; and the final scenes' cliché cursing by the villain) and a dissapointing progression of the story, that ends with a wink to a sequel that only the director's fans will get.
Just shit.
I was looking so damn forward to seeing this movie cause, come on guys, the trailers were fucking awesome and McAvoy's acting was just superb and fantastic. In the end? No need to waste your money on this title. Do you know why it sold so well? BECAUSE EVERYONE LIKE ME WAS EXPECTING GREAT THINGS AND WENT TO WATCH IT WITH CONFIDENCE and ugh bleah.
Okay, seriously.
The level of anxiety it creates it's just perfect, more than once I got chills. One point.
The second point is brought by McAvoy's skills, he was so wow, in every personality of his. Also Anya Taylor was really good, her expressions were really real.
It went well until about the half of the movie, when there was the pause.
Then everything goes down and even more.
come on, what was that thing with the name? watched harry potter too much? the-one-who-can't-be-named? don't call my name Alejandro? (hi gaga) and it worked only once, wow, Mrs. Fletcher was so like ' OMG I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU SO I WON'T CALL YOUR NAME '; really effective dude.
And Casey wasn't killed because she had suffered? Wow, she's superior. Now she can go back to be abused. She didn't have to be there from the start, Dennis was so meticulous that he could have noticed before, not at the end.
The useless death of Mrs. Fletcher? She really seeked her own death.
In the end, he did everything only to be acknowledged? Perfect.
And for sure they'll make a sequel or two because that shitty finale wasn't a finale BUT I WOULDN'T SPEND ONE MORE PENNY TO SEE IT.
I'm so disappointed I could cry.
"The broken are the more evolved"
"Split" isn't just a return to form from Shamalamadingdong, but an emotionally powerhouse of a thriller. Anyone who watched the trailer and think they have an idea of what it's gonna be, think again. Putting forward this guys history in films; this surprised the heck out of me.
The cinematography was excellent, same guy who did "It Follows" which was pretty neat. The film had the right balance of tone with comedy and horrific. One minute you're laughing at the intentional comedic scenes, but quickly change when you start to over think.
James McAvoy is absolutely fantastic in this movie. Every personality has a unique purpose to them and McAvoy makes the whole thing believable. Especially when he plays a little boy named Hedwig, who you actually care for and the childlike behavior McAvoy was done so perfectly. The scene when he starts dancing, had me laughing so hard when I saw it, but when I heard M. Night talk about the meaning behind it, it gave me chills. It's about a person dying and coming back to life.
Then again, "Kanye West is my main man".
Anya Taylor Joy was great in this too. Really impressing me from what I've seen from her so far, and might be the new face of horror movies. Her character arc was the most compelling part of the film and ties in very well with McAvoy characters. It's too bad Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula, the other captured girls, couldn't keep up with Anya. They performances were pretty bad and easily the worst part of the film.
It's not just them, some of the supporting actors who thankfully don't have much screen time, deliver such wooden performances. The film also suffers from M. Night's trademark, terribly written exposition. Other than that, this was a pretty solid film.
Overall rating: Welcome back M. Night Shyamalan, for real this time.
The Five Faces of Split
:heart_eyes:
Amazing performance by James McAvoy, who manages to capture so many distinct personalities and makes each and every one feel different.
:smiley:
I would have loved to see even more identities in action. McAvoy clearly has the ability to shift from one person to another at a blink of an eye.
Betty Buckley is believable and lovely as a fearless psychologist, trying to make sense of Kevin Crumb's situation.
Once the Beast is unleashed the film truly takes a bizarre and creepy turn that makes for a great final act.
The climax is true M. Night Shyamalan supernatural thriller stuff and feels like a natural sequel to Unbreakable.
:neutral_face:
If it wasn't for McAvyoy's fascinating performance, this would be a bland film. The story isn't very interesting and the other performances don't really match up to McAvoy's.
There's less of that playful editing and cinematography Shyamalan is famous for. That could have been utilized as a way to make this film feel more like a horror film.
Nothing feels very scary or tense, since the music or the editing don't even try to make the film anything more than a supernatural drama.
The three girls at the center of things are stereotypical horror film girls and never anything more. Their performances aren't particularly interesting. Anya Taylor-Joy is good but not very memorable.
Most of the plot is straightforward without big surprises. There's little depth in the story until the very end.
The film builds up things for a very long time without keeping the story fresh or interesting. That makes the impact of the climax feel less exciting.
If the entire film would have been like the last act it would have made for a great psychological horror.
:frowning2:
The bulk of the film is people talking about people. Shyamalan has a message he wants to convey, but he doesn't really find a way to do it effectively.
I don't know how I feel about all the religious cult things that drive Dennis and Patricia's actions. That could have been replaced with some other motive.
The girls remain shallow and uninteresting stereotypes, which is a shame for a movie that could have made something new with the genre.
Unbreakable worked as a great homage to the classic superhero origin story and Split tries to do the same for the supervillain origin. It fails to convey the same sense of comic book-ness or creativity, however.
:face_vomiting:
//
The Final Face: :neutral_face: // Average
Split is an intriguing film that has all the ingredients of a film that should not work. Hit and miss director M.Night Shyamalan who seems stuck, at least in the public's mind, as the 'twist ending guy' to such a point that it seems to needlessly dominate every film he makes. A hokey story of twenty-four personalities which for me is problematic as it has never been a proven disorder but nevertheless this is only M. Night Shyamalan film and not a serious documentary so perhaps I should calm down a bit. Top this with the film needing to have a very strong actor to hold it all together you can see how the whole shebang could have been, shall we say, problematic.
Despite this Spilt is a good enough film to keep most viewers watching. Front and centre you have a personal acting favourite of my James McAvoy not acting with his lovely Scottish accent, of which no part of it is whining, but certainly acting convincingly a number of different personalities and with his performance he is the glue that holds it all together. That's not to say the other actors, in particular the young ladies, Anya Taylor-Joy, Hayley Lu Richardson and Jessica, do not hold their own against the impressive Scot but the character Kevin Crumb is the axel on which everything else revolves.
In fact, Split starts out an interesting premise on the split-personality theme and whether any one person or even personality within the victim himself, can overcome the huge mental problems that Kevin has - not entirely based in fact but a very interesting concept that was playing out well.
Shylaman's problem is taking the story off in an unexpected direction, almost a giant twist as it were, and from that point the film is served its divorce papers by reality. This in my opinion is the weakness. That and with this 'twist' as it were, we get a rapid darkening in the events and a big tonal shift which for me ruined the mood of the film and sent it to a place I did not think it deserved.
Split was an okay film, I probably would not watch it again, but neither have I instantly forgotten it. James McAvoy proves that his casting was correct because in what could have been a very showy role that actors love playing he keeps it all on the right side of sensible and you never get the sense he loving every acting part of it 'darling' - it just seems like Kevin has these distinct personalities to me which is as a big a compliment as I can pay the actor.
The young girls who are kidnapped are more problematic for me with Casey Cooke's character played by Anya Taylor-Joy seemingly being the only one worthy of anything other than a passing interest, the talented and attractive Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula both end up screaming and whining in between not escaping from situations that are patently escape-easy.
It is a real shame and nothing that reflects the times we live in now.
Split is fine, I have never been on the bandwagon of constantly knocking Shylaman's films but in this case I was mostly disappointed the longer the film went on. I can't explain why it spoils the story for those that have not seen the film but I did not like the way it ends it could have been an entirely different film about an entirely different thing. Having said this I can see why others would like this film.
In general you will have a good night watching this but it ain't no Sixth Sense that is for sure.
The concept of the character is pretty cool. Though not the first time the subject is done, it has some great ideas in it. And its implementation is just magnificent.
McAvoy is truly astonishing. You can clearly see the different personalities. The attitude, the voice, the mimics, everything changes. Of course even if you're told about 24, you mainly really see 4 plus 4 small extras. I ouldn't have minded a little more, but the whole 24 would obviously have been too much to handle for the viewer (and probably for the actor too).
Dr Fletcher character is pretty good too, and her interactions with Kevin's personas result in very interesting scenes. Casey is ok I guess.
However that's it. Apart from the character and McAvoy's blazing interpretation, the script is pretty boring. The whole abduction thing, meh. Casey's flashbacks are done in an interesting way though.
As for the usual Shyamalan's twist, nope. I see people calling it a twist, but come on. Would you call 6th sense ending a twist if Bruce Willis a bleeding hole in his head in half the scenes ? It's the same thing. It's clearly stated several times that the Beast wants perfect untouched souls, that the two (two not three!) had been chosen because they never had any problem for anything in life, that damaged people are the best. And if you hadn't gotten it by then, after the scene where she plays "animals" with the uncle, what more do you need ??? Of course the Beast wasn't going to kill her.
As for the post-ending scene, well, If I had not already known about Glass before seeing it, I would have gone crazy. Aven if it's really REALLY badly done. "It's like that guy in a wheelchair a few years ago". What ? How is it remotely like that ? Who would make any link between the two ? Specially after 10+ years. That makes no sense. Just Dunn seeing it in a bar without any comment would have been much better. Though maybe the people who thought of the ending as a twist would have missed it and just thought "Oh hey, that's Bruce Willis." ? I wonder.
I've finally come around to re-watch this movie, after it has been sitting on my shelf for nearly a year now. I first saw this movie in a sneak preview - it was a movie that I would have wanted to watch anyways, so I was happy to get a head start, and I really enjoyed it. By now I think everybody knows that this movie is finally the long awaited continuation of Unbreakable (2000) which was not communicated and came as a surprise for all - unfortunately I was the only one to realize that at the cinema hall, screaming "Oh my god, this is Unbreakable" while everyone else looked puzzled. The story, however, is totally detached from Unbreakable and if it wasn't for the ending scene, you wouldn't have known it, as this one does not tie in any of the other characters and stands on its own:
When wanting to leave from the birthday party, the birthday girl Claire and her two friends Marcia and Casey get abducted by a strange guy. The girls are locked into a cellar and don't know what to expect, as their kidnapper seems strange and mentally unstable. And so a struggle for life and death begins.
I've originally rated this 8/10 after watching it at the cinema, but while re-watching it, I believe that this movie even got better. It was interesting in three ways:
First, now knowing that this movie is a sequel to Unbreakable, this movie has so many parallels that seem so obvious. Yet, I did not see them watching the movie the first time, and maybe wouldn't even have realized now, if I hadn't watch those movies back to back.
Second, re-watching this movie I figured out so many more interesting aspects I did not get at the first glance.
And third, even though I now knew the entire story, this movie was still so thrilling and captivating that I really felt of pushing my initial score up a bit.
It really is a great movie, it has so many interesting aspects, a really fascinating premises, and a really great story telling, pacing, it's wonderfully shot with a really great camera and has a great score. This becomes so clear right at the beginning of the car scene, which is so ingeniously done. Everything in this movie seems perfect already - but we haven't even yet talked about the actors and while all are great, there are of course two that stand out. First, there is "The Witch"-Star Anya Taylor-Joy, and her performance is absolutely stunning - her performance is absolutely believable, and she can convey so much just with her facial expression: fear, frustration, disappointment, but also her cleverness, the way she portraits that she is a fighter and a survivor. I feel like her performance isn't actually not valued as much as it should be - and the reason for that is of course James McAvoy, who gives his absolute best performance of his career: A DID patient with 23 prominent personalities of which we actually get to experience 5 in greater detail. He does that so stunningly well, that you can actually always tell, which person he is, right now. Of course there is some help in a number of scenes where the clothing changes - but there are also a number of scenes where he switches personalities in-scene, and even those are absolutely stunning It is a real pleasure to see him change his voice, change his accents, even change his entire facial expression from one moment to the other - that is some extremely high level acting that only few could master. It's incredible that M Night Shyamalan knew how to pick 'em and cast the perfect guy for this incredibly demanding role.
It's simply a really great movie with superb acting, great story telling, a really good story to tell, a clever idea - it's the prefect package.
PS: If you get the BD, take your time and watch the extras as well - Shyamalan actually comments on a lot of things: There's an alternative ending, a huge number of deleted scenes and all of them are introduced and explained by a commentary from Shyamalan that also gives a lot of additional background context to the movie itself. And there are three behind-the-scenes featurettes that are all worth watching as well.
Review by jaredVIP EP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2017-04-30T04:16:59Z
This was pretty awful.
The entire movie was trying to dictate something to the audience, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
At no point do you feel anything at all for the characters. The kidnapped girls and Casey's dad are not developed at all, so their deaths don't carry any weight.
The one smart character (the doctor) doesn't act rationally. The whole lecture sequence made me cringe. The doctor is originally presented as someone who approaches her patients methodically. She is perceptive and crafty. Then she gives a Skype lecture where she pleads with a group of scientists to believe her. She doesn't present proof or make a convincing argument, even though she must have that capability.
Then in dangerous situations she shuts down. While she can write out his name, she doesn't call it out or check for his presence. She knows how dangerous he is. She suspects him. She even stuffs the tissue into the keyhole, but she still doesn't call out his name to snap him out of it.
The girls are also in an unrealistic state while trying to escape. In most other movies, people in this type of situation are either 1) competent, 2) paralyzed by fear, or 3) completely frantic and flailing. These girls were none of those. Their maddeningly slow pace was inconsistent with the terror they must be feeling.
The whole parallel with Casey's uncle (and being imprisoned after being "released" into his custody) didn't match well with the main story. Why did she pull the trigger on The Beast but not her uncle? At first it seems like both stories were parallels, where at this point in her life she actually overcomes her fear and confronts her aggressor. But then she just goes back to her uncle. It's very unclear what her character is feeling and what she's going through.
Also, the fact that The Beast is immune to gunshots and has superhuman strength is out of nowhere. The story abides in the natural world before derailing into the supernatural. While the supernatural element should be a big reveal, it wasn't. His powers build up step by step, so there is no surprise factor. The lack of surprise implies that we should expect this. Yet the world presented doesn't give us any hint before the build up. Tying it into Unbreakable at the end was jarring as well. The tie-in explains more about the movie's universe, but nothing about the movie's tone or world-building mirrored Unbreakable.
McAvoy's performances were decent but spread very thin. So many characters (8?) are introduced that none of them were well developed. The other thirteen aren't explored at all, which was pretty disappointing. MNS might be saving them for the sequel, but I doubt most viewers will be willing to sit through another ordeal of this magnitude.
The only success of this movie is when Casey goes for a gun and the non-Beast personalities plead for their lives one by one. It makes you think about the twenty-some actual people who would die if she pulled the trigger in self defense. Unfortunately, this was the only redeeming quality of the movie and not enough to justify a watch.