SPLIT (2017)

Genre: Thriller
Running Length: 1:57
Cast: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, Betty Buckley
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan

SPLIT is not a complete return to form for the once red-hot writer/director M. Night Shyamalan but he's definitely taking the correct steps to head in the right direction. Overall, this movie is more than above average but the ending...Oh, I had a nerdgasm!

This film doesn't waste time in establishing the main characters. It gets straight into the thick of the action where we witness three teenage girls taken by McAvoy's character. The girls are then kept in a room with no windows and they have no idea where they are. Things get more bizarre when McAvoy begins to show multiple personality traits and informs the girls that he is preparing them as a sacrifice to the 'Beast'. I'm not giving away anything as all these are in the trailer.

What makes this a compelling watch is James McAvoy's performance. The audience can literally see him change from one personality to another within the same take, resulting to feeling sad for him one moment and scared of him in a split second.

As mentioned earlier, this is not a perfect film because I felt there is no genuine tension as it relies too heavily on horror movie clichés. And there's hardly any claustrophobic atmosphere of dread given the fact that the girls are kept in a jail-like environment. The recently Singapore produced Apprentice did a way much better job at that.  

Nevertheless, I can only hope the studios don't throw more money at Shyamalan (judging by the massive current success of Split in the US box office) because in my opinion, he just cannot handle it. The low budget less-is-more approach seems to be more suited for Shyamalan's kind of stories that he would like to tell.

RATING: 7/10