Split (2016)

M. Night Shyamalan is a director who has had his fair share of ups and downs over his career. He was oscar nominated for The Sixth Sense and was once predicted to be the next Steven Spielberg, but he's also suffered had one hell of a streak of bad movies, winning 4 Razzie awards for such films as; The Lady in the Water and The Last Airbender. Now off the back of the moderately well received film The Visit, Shyamalan is looking to propel his career back in the right direction as he releases his next film Split. Split stars James McAvoy as a man with 23 different personalities who kidnaps 3 teenage girls in preparation for the arrival for a 24th personality, the Beast. Split keeps Shyamalan on the right tracks and is itself a good psychological thriller. The best bit of the film by far is James McAvoy. McAvoy is given a very difficult task of having to portray a total of 8 different personalities, but not only that, he sometimes must switch between each one within a single take. You can always tell who McAvoy is due to the slight facial expressions, mannerisms and tones of voice that he exhibits. He's scary, creepy and will make you laugh at the same time. It's mesmerising to watch and is a perfect performance, which I personally believe is a real oscar snub. Anya Taylor-Joy is also pretty good in this film, portraying the mysterious social outcast character who is pretty well explored in this film. The way Shyamalan deals with her character throughout the film is very well done, but due to the spoiler sensitive nature of psychological thrillers I'll leave it there. Shyamalan's writing and directing are great as the film is very suspenseful and clever, like any good psychological thriller should be. Shyamalan also masterfully places moments of humour throughout that doesn't in anyway lessen the suspense of the film and actually adds to it. The film feels reminiscent of The Silence of the Lambs with its setting and tone, to which Shyamalan has obviously used as inspiration, but has done so brilliantly. Like most Shyamalan films, the ending is key. It either can either make or break the film, often due to Shyamalan's love of a twist ending. I will not confirm or deny the appearance of this Shyamalan trademark, but what I will say is that the ending makes sense and is pretty thought provoking, unlike some of Shyamalan's films *cough* Signs and The Happening *cough*. Overall, with a faultless James McAvoy performance, solid script and direction, Split is a great psychological thriller that M. Night Shyamalan can be proud of. Shyamalan is back and he is out for redemption. Let's hope he's left the After Earth "I like it but I think it might be bad." days behind him once and for all. Fingers crossed.