Shyamalan had his debut with the critically acclaimed 'The Sixth Sense' followed by positively reviewed movies 'Unbreakable' and 'Signs'. After that, he went through a series of duds with 'Lady In The Water' , 'The Village' , 'The Happening' , 'After Earth' and was termed one of the worst directors of all time with 'The Last Airbender'. But, he made a decent comeback with 2015's 'The Visit' which received generally positive reviews and he's back at his game with 'Split'.
After a birthday party, three girls, led by Casey, are kidnapped by the troubled Kevin, who has a very rare case of 23 split personalities inside him. What follows is how the three girls try to escape from Kevin who himself is lowly having a mental breakdown. Sorry, I can't tell a lot about this movie as a small factor would spoil it.
This movie couldn't have worked without James McAvoy. He has given his best performance in his whole career and stands out as one of the reasons to watch this movie. The cliché points in the movie are watchable just because of his phenomenal performance. His transition from a 'Norman Bates' type woman Patrica to a 9 year old boy Hedwig to other personalities are amazing
Last but not the least, is the traditional "Shyamalan Twist". Trust me, this time your minds will be blown when you come to the conclusion. This twist doesn't match up to the "The Sixth Sense" one but it's a thrilling one. It's not some stupid twist like in "Signs". I won't forget that moment when someone behind me shouted out "WHAAAAT?!".
"Split" isn't scary, it's tense. This movie shouldn't have been given a "horror" tag. A "psychological thriller" sounds better. Nevertheless, this movie is worth a watch. I'm giving a 8/10 with one extra star just for James McAvoy
Welcome back, M.Night Shyamalan
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