Split
Three young women are kidnapped by Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man who they discover is living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, who has 23 identities within him, and are known collectively as The Horde.
One of the identities, is Dennis, a borderline sociopath with OCD, is responsible for the kidnapping. He, who along with ‘Patricia’ – a mild mannered English lady, and Hedwig a nine year old boy plan on helping a “24th” identity emerge – the frightening “Beast”
Dr Karen Fletcher – believes that Dennis, is pretending to be Barry one of the other identity, and the kindest, and one of her patients – and tries to bring him ‘out into the light’ to find a way to help, unaware that the girls have been kidnapped.
Direction
Directed by M Night Shyamalan, it has his distinctive style when it comes to how almost every shot is thought out. this is especially noticeable the way the camera moves between character conversations, and the slightly more unnatural colours – in which yellows and browns are more prominent.
There is some great camera work at times, such as the dolly shot during one of the girls escapes, a gods eye shot of the beast later in the film – and the fight sequence between Casey and the beast late in the film.
Cast/Characters
James McAvoy is sensational in the role of The Horde, with each of the personalities having their own characteristics, accents, and way they hold themselves with their body language.
Anya Taylor Joy plays the role of Casey, who is the film’s protagonist. Casey is also played by newcomer Izzy Coffey in a series of flashbacks.
Betty Buckley plays the role of Karen Fletcher.
Breakdown
Casey who is the primary character, is introduced as someone who is ‘distant’ and antisocial before the kidnapping. This is never really shown, and I felt was only added to the screenplay to make there be more antagonism between herself and the two other kidnap victims, Claire and Marcia.
These two others are nothing more than character fodder. They add nothing to the overall plot of the film, and at times are used for their looks, and to add to the overall body count, as the film was not able to kill off Casey or “Kevin”.
Casey also gets a significant backstory in a series of flashbacks, where it is clear that she was SA’d by her Uncle. I was hoping that there would be resolved in this film, but as the sequel Glass came after (and I will reviewing in Sept), I will see if it is resolved then.
Because of this history, she becomes somewhat of a kindred spirit to The Horde, able to converse with them all. She even is able to ‘calm’ The Beast when he discovers the trauma that she has been victim to.
There is some well written tension throughout the film, where the girls each try to get free from The Horde, or when Karen arrives at the house and we think she is going to find them and save the day.
Buckley’s Karen is a far better character than what she given in The Happening, however it does feel as if her dialogue was pulled from text books, and doesn’t really feel too believable. Her psychiatrist ‘character type’ feels a little too cliche, and has been seen in countless movies and television shows.
Karen is also given a scene alongside Shyamalan’s cameo, where they discuss… chicken wings. Sir, please stop these arrogant cameo’s, even Tarantino knows they’re too much at times.
The other dialogue I hated came in a scene I thought was great – and that was the reveal that this was a tie in to Unbreakable. With the Unbreakable theme playing, we see Bruce Willis’ David Dunn (but with the painfully contrived dialogue about “who was that guy 15 years ago”)
Score/Soundtrack
The primary score was composed by West Dylan Thordson, who does a great job – especially in some scenes such as when Casey is watching all the different video clips of the different personalities, and then when The Beast is ‘born’.
James Newton Howard also delivers his ‘Visions’ score from Unbreakable, when the reveal of the film being a sequel occurs.
Overall
Despite its flaws, this is one Shyamalan got right. I’ve got mixed reservations about what’s to come, as I’ve heard things.
For a standalone film, this gets a solid pass.
3.5/5
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