Movie Review: Split by M. Night Shyamalan

Movies by M. Night Shyamalan tend to be inimitable and interesting in the manner in which their plots unfold. The writer and filmmaker includes mysteries and thrills that make one curious about the events that will take place in a scene. Also, the plot in his films are not predictable in the sense that they have great endings; the villain does not always get caught when compared to most films. From a personal viewpoint, the features of a good film are that it should be able to capture the attention of the audience from the beginning to the end in addition to being unpredictable. The film that I chose for the review that aligns with the features is Split by M. Night Shyamalan.

Split presents a psychological thriller that entails an individual with multiple personalities. The movie starts off with the kidnap of three girls by a man identified as Kevin (James McAvoy). The kidnap takes place after the father to one of them is drugged while parking his groceries at the back of his car. The girls try to scream for help but are also drugged. Kevin takes them to an unknown region, which is later discovered to be at the bottom of a zoo, where he resides under the domination of his twenty-three personalities. The movie is viewed to overwhelm the confines of psychological thrillers through Kevin due to his unique number of personalities. The personalities have distinct features regarding gender, age, sexual orientation, behavior and social life. Kevin takes the form of the personalities to the fullest such that the audience easily distinguishes one personality from the rest. Shyamalan uses Fletcher, Kevins psychiatrist, to illustrate the nature of the psychological condition by which in one scene, she questions on the possibility of one person to exhibit several personalities each with its own mind. Fletcher appears to be the only person who can relate with Kevin and easily distinguish the personality that she is interacting with. The girls meet with the different personalities which confuse them as some appear to be friendly and others aggressive. The gentlest personality is Kevin who depicts a teenage boy and tries to relate with the girls in a friendly manner. However, the Patricia and Barry personalities are quite aggressive. Barry is viewed as a sexist who enjoys seeing young girls dance with their clothes of. The girls try to escape, but their attempts result in separation. Of the three girls, Kevin appears to relate well Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), who appears to be more conservative and cautious when compared to the two girls. Kevin keeps warning Casey on the appearance of the beast who is perceived to exhibit immense power when compared to the other personalities in the hoard. Several drawings are shown on the possible features of the beast which make the whole film interesting due to the suspense created on the possible occurrence of the beast.

The personalities are viewed to be defense mechanisms that developed when Kevin was a small boy by which he was subjected to physical abuse. His age is manifested through the Kevin personality whereby he behaves like a small boy in terms of dressing, behavior, and language. The film also incorporates the story of Casey; when she was a child. The similarity between Casey and Kevin is that they were both subjected to child abuse and possibly that is why they easily associated with each other when compared to the other girls. Several scenes are shown on the relationship between Casey and her father, her uncles behavior towards her, and her fathers demise. The relationship between the two is exhibited after the encounter with the beast by which, instead of killing her similarly to the other girls, he tells her that she exhibits pureness which distinguishes her from the other girls.

From an analytical perspective, the movie illustrates a unique plot especially with the shift in personalities. James McAvoy exhibits exuberance in shifting from one personality to the other such that the audience views different people rather than one. By the end of the movie, all the twenty-four personalities are shown with respect to their character traits and hence achieving a balance in depicting the theme on multiple personalities. From a personal viewpoint, the Patricia personality was quite interesting due to the full exhibition of the features of a woman; from the dress to shoes and the manner in which the personality associated with the girls. Fletchers association with the personalities also illustrates decent acting skills in regards to how she approached and understood Kevin. She relates with the personalities comfortably as if the condition was normal and could be understood by anyone. Furthermore, the roles of the girls are distinguished by how they present themselves by which Casey appears to be more conservative than the rest.

The costumes used in the film are lined up with each character. The young ladies have present day wear that levels them to be between sixteen and twenty years old. Kevin has outfits that distinguish each identity. Kevin's little kid's identity dresses like a young person; the Patricia identity puts on a dress and feminine shoes, Hedwig puts on scarves to portray his form way of life while Barry dresses in formal attire. The ensembles help with recognizing every identity and distinguishing each character. The film is also limited to five scenes by which they are constrained to particular spots with more often than not spent on the scene where Kevin keeps the young ladies.

I would recommend the movie to any person who enjoys mental thrillers particularly due to its unique plot, suspense and the manner in which tension has been developed. The film also lacks explicit scenes and language and hence minimizing the use of cliche in a movie. It also presents several gaps by which the audience is left to feel the gap on what might have occurred to result in certain scenarios. A good example is a scene where Kevin is hiding under his bed to protect himself from torture which makes the audience identify the development of the personalities. Moreover, it incorporates parts of brutality and exasperating thoughts on the multiple identities and consequently not suggested for kids. The occurrence of the beast illustrates inhumane features such as crawling on walls and killing and eating its victims and hence not advisable for children viewing. Be that as it may, in spite of utilizing a predetermined number of characters, the film figures out how to present its unique content in a way that lifts interests. I would accord it a nine-star rating because of the thrill and the tension which are exhibited from the time the film begins.