M. Night Shyamalan, once crowned king of the twist, seemed to have lost his touch the last couple of years. Lady in the Water, The Happening (What, no!), The Last Airbender and After Earth didn’t manage to impress and the question was if he would be able to make a comeback. That he still had some humour is something he proved during the last Oscars when he tweeted: “I wrote the ending of the academy awards 2017. @jimmykimmel we really got them!”. When Split started playing at the cinema earlier this year it proved to be a title with staying power as it kept playing for a long time in the cinemas over here in the Netherlands. Does that prove that Shyamalan has proved he still got it?
When three teenagers are kidnapped and locked away in a dark place they quickly find out that the man who is holding them, played by James McAvoy, has multiple personalities. They don’t know what he’s planning to do, but the three of them hope they will get a chance to escape.
If you want to know if this movie is worth watching, I can already tell you that the answer to that is yes. And if you still haven’t seen this film that’s all you need to know. If you want to be surprised stop reading because I need to talk about a couple of details to describe why I really like this. As a viewer you know in advance that with Shyamalan movies there could be a twist and as you are watching it your brain is constantly trying to second guess what it might be. He’s a magician who’s hiding something from you, but where you have the feeling you might know what it is. Here though he manages to perform a trick which made my jaw drop. A feeling I didn’t have in a long time. He shows you something which changes your whole idea about what you have been watching the whole time, so he still got it. Bring on the next installment in this series.
Ahh that tweet really tickled me! I have a lot of love for Shyamalan, and even though he’s made a few terrible movies, I’ve still had fun poking fun at them. I’m really excited to see what he does next, especially with regards to the ending of Split! 😉
finally a good movie from M. Night Shyamalan; how long did we wait for that?
Split is a reminder that Shyamalan IS capable of creating great films. Shame it took so long for him to get back to this level. Loved the creeping tension this film managed to in-still in me.
Split was ok, just I didn’t think was quite as great as you. There is a clever ending, and moments of claustrophobia/high tension. Well-acted, but overlong and didn’t hold my attention the whole way.
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