Movies: Split

Finally sat down and watched this one.

Look, I know M. Night's movies have been hit or miss (and more miss than hit as his career has gone on), but I did really like Unbreakable, thought Signs was okay despite the gaping plot holes, and even went against the majority by mostly liking The Village. Sure, I think The Sixth Sense is overrated, and I hated Lady in the Water and near hated The Visit and The Happening, so . . . Yeah.

The question then becomes: Where does Split fall on the M. Night spectrum?

Well, let's talk about the movie itself first. It's about a guy named Kevin (James McAvoy) with Dissociative Identity Disorder who, acting as a personality named Dennis, abducts three teens from King of Prussia Mall. At least, I think it was the mall. I guess it doesn't matter.

The first scene, which involves Claire and Marcia talking to Claire's dad about how weird Casey is and how they didn't really want to invite her to this birthday party, is bland and oddly static. The dialogue isn't great, either. It had me worried about what to expect from the movie.

But then they all go out to the parking lot, and again, some of the logic doesn't quite scan. The girls wait in the car, and it's clear something happens to Claire's dad, but when a weird man gets into the driver's seat . . . "Pardon me, sir," Claire says, and I'm thinking, No way does a 16-year-old say that or behave that way when a weirdo gets in the car. It's also not clear why Casey doesn't jump out of the parked car rather than moving super slow and allowing herself to get taken.

Whatever. It's all setup, I guess, and what follows would be typical light horror fare except that James McAvoy totally nails it. Sure, the movie sort of devolves at times into the "James McAvoy show," but it's pretty impressive. And Anya Taylor-Joy does a fine job as wide-eyed Casey.

There continue to be logic issues—how Dennis forces two of the girls to partially undress, but for whatever reason not Casey because she has to stay covered for a plot twist to work; how Dr. Fletcher should probably have been smarter, etc. There are also flashbacks to young Casey hunting with her father and abusive uncle. One expects that to build up to something, but it doesn't quite play out the way one might think, so there's a little bit of a letdown there.

Still, the movie is overall entertaining. I didn't like it as much as Unbreakable, but I probably like it almost as much as Signs and about as much as The Village (again, I'm an outlier in that I really kind of liked that one). It definitely makes me excited for Glass, though I guess I would have been anyway.

tl;dr: good movie, mostly because of James McAvoy, but Anya Taylor-Joy plays well off him, too.