{jatabs type="content" position="top" height="auto" skipAnim="true" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}

[tab title="Movie Review"]

Split - Movie Review

3 starsOne of the few things more beguiling than an M. Night Shaymalan movie when the writer/director is at the top of his game, is the direction his career has taken over the last decade or so. He launched to meteoric heights back in the late ‘90s and early 00’s with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. Hell, I’ll even apologize all day long for his The Village.

Then over the subsequent decade, his empire crumbled in the worst of ways with a steady string of stinkers that still has our heads spinning in disbelief at what happened. Lady in the Water, The Last Airbender, After Earth, anybody? Anybody? Yet, the industry stayed behind him with one of the longest leashes in Hollywood history, hoping that his once-shining star would rise again.

Well, the wait has paid off with Shyamalan’s biggest twist yet; a film that is at the same time both weird and wonderful with many of the things that make an M. Night film so enjoyable. That’s right (with all apologies to 2015’s The Visit), M. Night Shyamalan’s career is back on track with Split, a horror/thriller that feels much bigger in both story and atmosphere than its relatively minuscule budget might indicate.

James McAvoy turns in a virtuoso performance as Kevin, a deranged kidnapper who apprehends three young women from a shopping mall parking lot. He then takes them to what appears to be some kind of abandoned warehouse and locks them up in a small room. What his intentions are with the women aren’t made immediately clear, but we soon learn that Kevin is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, or split personality. He has 24 of them in all, but we get to meet four in particular: Dennis, the dominant personality; wanna-be fashion designer, Barry; Hedwig; a 10-year-old lover of hip-hop music, and British socialite, Patricia.

McAvoy is near brilliant and basically elevates the entire experience as he slips in and out of his characters with a mesmerizing mastery. He and Shyamalan work wonderfully together with a slow burn pacing that eventually melts down into a festering goo of psychotic madness as our heroine captives must find a way to work with each of Kevin’s personalities to attempt an escape.

Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) stands out from the trio of hostages as Casey, a shy, anti-social girl who is still recovering from a traumatizing childhood event of her own. Shyamalan explores her background with a framing device that unfolds alongside the main story. The terror of their situation is reflected in her eyes as she breaks down their problem to find a solution, rather than succumb to the crushing fears that surround them. She is the perfect foil to Kevin as she plays silly games with Hedwig, stands firm against Patricia, and antagonizes Dennis, with hopes of finding a way out of their predicament.

It’s not really surprising that Split works as well as it does. With a budget of just $5 million, Shyamalan is forced back into his old ways of story over spectacle. Free from the expectations of splendor, spectacle, and huge box office returns, Shyamalan leans on dialogue, characters, atmosphere, and mood to tell his story. And he’s a better filmmaker because of it. Nearly the entire film takes place in an underground bunker with dank, dingy corridors and rust-stained walls that seem to get narrower and narrower as the story unfolds. Plot, character, and environment all begin to close in with an extremely claustrophobic tension as the film’s climax nears.

Speaking of the climax, any fans the director still has will appreciate a closing scene that hints at a much larger Shyamalan full-circle universe and is most certainly meant as a knowing nod by the director himself that the old M. Night Shyamalan is back.

[/tab]

[tab title="Details"]

Split - Movie Review

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disturbing thematic content and behavior, violence and some language.
Runtime:
117 mins
Director
: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer:
M. Night Shyamalan
Cast:
James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson
Genre
: Horror | thriller
Tagline:
Kevin has 23 distinct personalities. The 24th is about to be unleashed.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Don't worry, he's not allowed to touch you. He knows what you're here for. He listens to me."
Theatrical Distributor:
Universal Pictures
Official Site: http://www.splitmovie.com/
Release Date:
January 20, 2017
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
No details available.
Synopsis: Kevin, a man with at least 23 different personalities, is compelled to abduct three teenage girls. As they are held captive, a final personality - "The Beast" - begins to materialize.

[/tab]

[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Split - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios
Available on Blu-ray
- April 18, 2017
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles
: English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Spanish: DTS 5.1; French: DTS 5.1
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set + UV digital copy; iTunes; digital copy; Digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: Region A

Expertly handled by Universal Studios, their release of Split is a fine-looking 1080p transfer. Colors are warmly saturated and blacks are beyond solid; even the lines have altering shades. There are textures in the drywall; textures in the fabric; and textures in the apartments featured in the movie. Everything is blistering with crisp detail. Presented in the movie’s original theatrical aspect of 2.39:1, this MPEG-4 AVC encode is as good as the picture gets. The sound is presented in an ear-shattering DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, which gives you every footfall and whimper.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

There’s an alternate ending included with the release. Interesting to include, but not necessary, although Shyamalan provides an introduction. There are also 15-minutes of deleted scenes, a look at the making of the movie, a featurette focusing on McAvoy’s many acting talents, and a look at how Shyamalan handles directing. Complete with a slipcover, this two-disc set also features a DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy.

  • Alternate Ending with optional Shyamalan introduction (1 min)
  • Deleted Scenes with optional Shyamalan introductions (15 min)
  • The Making of Split (10 min)
  • The Many Faces of James McAvoy (6 min)
  • The Filmmaker's Eye: M. Night Shyamalan (4 min)

[/tab]

[tab title="Trailer"]

[/tab]

[tab title="Art"]Split - Movie Review

 

[/tab]

{/jatabs}