Image courtesy of hdwallsource.com
After revisiting Unbreakable, it was time to rewatch the second installment in the Eastrail 177 Trilogy. This one serves as a parallel to that, and when you get to the twist, you’ll know what it is*. However, prior to that, it also works as a self-contained thriller, in more ways than one, and that movie is Split.
Three teenage girls are kidnapped and wake up in an isolated area underground, with only a man named Kevin and 23 distinct personalities within him to keep them company. This proves the least of their problems, as another personality dubbed “The Beast” is emerging, just waiting to be let out.
What Worked: As with Unbreakable, and in fact the majority of these reviews, I’ll start with the cast, but not with who you expect. I’m saving the standout for last.
The first one to talk about here is the lead protagonist, Casey Cooke, played by Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Morgan). As much as I liked Morgan (The Witch I did at first, but now I just think it’s okay), this is her best movie by far. Casey you might not like initially, but as the movie progresses, you understand why she’s so distant from everyone else. She shows that really well in her performance.
The same can be said for Haley Lu Richardson (The Edge of Seventeen) as Claire Benoit, who’s basically the voice of reason of the group, and the most likable because she tries to get through to Casey how serious their situation is. Not only that, but she’s also the smart one, showing a sense of rationality in figuring out ways to escape.
The other one is Claire’s friend Marcia, portrayed by Jessica Sula, who aside from this movie works mostly on TV. Her performance is good, despite not being in it as much. She serves as the scared one in the group to balance it out. You have the calm and reserved character with Casey, the rational one with Claire, and then the frightened one with Marcia. They all pull off their respective character traits very well.
The main supporting character to talk about is Dr. Karen Fletcher, Kevin’s psychologist. She’s played by Betty Buckley, an actress who’s worked with M. Night Shyamalan before with The Happening. Suffice it to say, she’s much better here, and you do understand her concerns with Kevin’s condition.
Last, but certainly not least, is the main character of this movie: James McAvoy as Kevin himself, and the other personalities that reside within him. He is fantastic in this. In a way, it’s a one-man show for him, and everyone else is watching. Although they don’t show all the personalities, the ones they do show have their own share of memorable moments, and it’s because of his performance in these scenes that really makes them stand out as much as they do.
Much like Unbreakable, the direction from M. Night Shyamalan I found very solid here… and yes, as with that movie, he does have a cameo here as well.
Unlike Unbreakable, for these next two movies, James Newton Howard does not return to compose the score. Instead, it’s West Dylan Thordson, who is best known for scoring Joy (starring Jennifer Lawrence) and Foxcatcher (starring Steve Carrell). His score for this, accompanied by excellent cinematography courtesy of Michael Gioulakis, best known for his work on a very good horror movie called It Follows, makes for a haunting combination. A highlight in that regard is the theme during the opening credits.
As I said in the intro of the review, this movie also works as a self-contained thriller. In addition to the eeriness of the score and the cinematography, it’s the aforementioned scenes with the various personalities within Kevin put on display here that really gives it a sense of paranoia, and a really effective one at that.
What Didn’t Work: While I did really like M. Night Shyamalan’s writing for Unbreakable, it’s not as strong this time around. There are some plot holes, and it also does kind of portray the condition Kevin has in a negative connotation, so for those who happen to have that while still being interested, this may be a major dealbreaker for you. Those are my only real flaws with this movie. Other than that, I really enjoyed this movie when I first saw it in theaters, and it surprised me just as much if not a little bit more upon rewatching it for this series of reviews.
Overall: Split shows that M. Night Shyamalan has still got it as a director after so many years of so many misfires (and one absolute disaster, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves… for now). He goes back to his roots in psychological thrillers, and in fact this movie feels like he never left the genre in which he made a name for himself.
While not perfect in the writing department, everything else just works so well for me that I can overlook it. With an excellent performance from James McAvoy, a solid supporting cast, a great score and cinematography, and good direction from M. Night Shyamalan, Split is an unconventional thriller in an already unconventional trilogy, and so it fits right in with the bookending movies in ways you wouldn’t expect. The icing on the cake comes with the twist, and a cameo a little bit into the credits which builds up to something bigger just makes the overall surprise of the movie itself that much sweeter to where you’ll want to see how it all comes together, which I will get into in the next review.
*I’ll say this: Take the underlying theme of the story from Unbreakable, and flip it. All will be revealed in the review for Movie #3, much like the Trilogy does with the movie itself.