Split Is The Biggest Sign Yet That M. Night Shyamalan's Creative Resurgence Is Happening

For those concerned that M. Night Shyamalan's 2015 film The Visit was some kind of fluke, that he would be returning to the level of quality found in The Last Airbender and After Earth in future works, put those anxieties to rest. It turns out we may be in the midst of, at the very least, a nice uptick in the career of M. Night Shyamalan, as his newest film, Split, is a thrilling little romp that's equal parts nonsensical and thrilling. It's basically a B-movie plot superimposed onto higher quality filmmaking and acting, and if that sounds like a complaint, it really isn't at all. Actually, the film's willingness to embrace the nonsensical and absurd is very much part of its own charm.

The premise here is that a teenage girl, Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy), and two other girls are kidnapped by a violent deranged individual named Kevin (James McAvoy), a man with split personality disorder. This movie's depiction of split personality disorder is about as scientifically accurate as The Human Centipede, with Kevin's various differing personalities cropping up as distinctly different beings (one's a calm fellow, one's an adult woman, etc.) that take the concept of having split personality disorder and takes it to its most crazy (and extremely unrealistic) extreme. Their depiction of Kevin and his split-personality disorder has more in common with like the mutants in X-Men than anything remotely resembling how actual split-personality disorder.

It could have come across as exploitive (and it's totally understandable if viewers come away finding it to be just that, especially given the already existing stigmas against mental illnesses in our culture) , but thankfully, Split is more entertaining than uncomfortable in its depiction of split-personality disorder. And that's actually the key component of this movie, it's just a real blast to watch. It's super fun to watch James McAvoy throw himself head-first into depicting each of the differing sides of Kevin's personality in these go-for-broke performances that are surprisingly adept at conjuring up both menacing and humor. Whenever this one intimidating personality with a strict penchant for cleanliness shows up, McAvoy is so good at being intimidating that you just want to sink back in your seat.

And then, one scene later, McAvoy comes back as Hedwig, a Kayne West loving 9-year old who delivers some of the funniest moments of the entire movie. In the grander scheme of Shyamalan's career as a director, embracing more overt examples of humor in elements like certain pieces of Hedwig's dialogue may be one of the more notable elements helping his newest features excel. The overly somber atmosphere that suffocated After Earth and The Last Airbender isn't found here with Split having a more versatile tone that knows when to incorporate some moments of levity or dark humor while maintaining a sense of unease and peril in the story. That tonal balance is most certainly found in that excellent performance by James McAvoy, whose range in the movie is quite a feat and a great example of what this guy is capable of as a performer.

Anya-Taylor Joy plays an individual whose got primarily isolated tendencies even before she gets kidnapped and trapped in this terrifying underground lair that Kevin and his personas inhabit. It would have been nice for Joy to get more screentime in the second act and her characters personal storyline comes to this darker abrupt ending that doesn't quite jive with the more heightened horror plot elements that have come before it. However, Anya-Taylor Joy is still aces in her lead performance and she's now two-for-two (between Split and The VVitch) for strong lead performances in memorable horror movies.

Despite working on a much smaller budget than many of his past efforts, Split shows far more inventiveness from a filmmaking perspective than Shyamalan's big-budget offerings like After Earth or The Happening. In an opening scene, the camera is positioned in a way where it looks like a normal medium shot depicting the three girls getting into one of the girls fathers automobile...and then it slowly reveals itself to actually be a POV shot from the perspective of Kevin. It's a subtly eerie move that sets the stage for loads of fun directing and cinematography tricks that keep Split humming at a suspenseful and enjoyable rhythm.