Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews
Split
Split
Last year it was Michael Bays surprisingly captivating 13 Hours, this year the big January surprise is Split. I saw the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan last night and much to my surprise it was actually pretty good. Yeah I didn't go into Split expecting much aside from a good leading performance but the end result really surprised me, and although it's not without its imperfections, it still has a lot of things I really liked about it and stuff I would consider more than reason enough to recommend it.
One of the big sells of Split for me was James Mcavoy and the characters he plays here. His character in this film has Dissociative Identity Disorder, which leads to him (in a sense) playing several characters. Performances like this are always interesting because of just how much an actor can convey different characters as truly separate even without makeup or CGI making them physically different. And as far as that's concerned here, Mcavoy knocks it out of the park, this is personally my favorite performance of his I've seen. Another really impressive performance here is Anya Taylor-Joy, once again proving that she is one of the most talented up and coming actresses especially in the horror genre.
Probably one of the biggest mixed bags in Hollywood is this films director, M. Night Shyamalan. Sometimes his films have slow-burn style with subtle visual direction and lots of shots that take advantage of obstructions or tricks of editing, sometimes they have weirdly written characters who ramble about things irrelevant to the scene. However, thankfully, Split is far more reminiscent of Shyamalans earlier work, with more of a Sixth Sense and Unbreakable vibe to its direction and writing. It's not entirely free of issues, it still has moments where characters will drone on about things that don't matter to the scene or just some badly written supporting characters who - thankfully - aren't in much of the movie. However, due to the things this movie does right and how enjoyable it was to watch a film with this much effort put into the craftsmanship and building tension, I'm willing to look past the odd weird moment or two.
The thing is, Split is at its core a horror film. A horror film in January coming off of 2016 - one of the best years for horror fans of all-time if you ask me - has a lot to live up to. And as a horror fan, I have to say I was really impressed with Split. This film uses little to no jump scares, but keeps the intensity high with an unpredictable script, lots of well-times music, and clever lighting and editing. This combined with James Mcavoys unnerving performance make for a frightening and deeply captivating horror/thriller, in all honesty, it's probably my favorite of the genre since last years Hush.
Final Rating
Is it perfect? Nah, but Split is far and beyond one of Shyamalans best film in his entire career. This is the definition of a comeback, and while I don't know for sure if his next films will follow in suit with this level of quality, Split is a hell of a refreshing film. It features powerful performances from its two lead actors, and although it requires some level of suspension of disbelief for its kind of absurd plot, it's all worth it by the end of it. If you ask me, Split is M. Night Shyamalans best film since The Sixth Sense, and I highly recommend you go check it out.
Is it perfect? Nah, but Split is far and beyond one of Shyamalans best film in his entire career. This is the definition of a comeback, and while I don't know for sure if his next films will follow in suit with this level of quality, Split is a hell of a refreshing film. It features powerful performances from its two lead actors, and although it requires some level of suspension of disbelief for its kind of absurd plot, it's all worth it by the end of it. If you ask me, Split is M. Night Shyamalans best film since The Sixth Sense, and I highly recommend you go check it out.
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