February 20, 2018
I haven’t watched an M. Night film since…Signs – holy shit, that was 16 years ago! But my son watched Split and said it was pretty good, so I decided to give it a spin.
Split was amazing from beginning to end. The story, as simple as it was, was riveting in its unspoken horror. I was most impressed that the mental illness was not “gimmicky”, but just a part of the weaving of the story. I remember watching Sybil in college and just laughing my ass off, her personalities were so ridiculous and didn’t it turn out that the real Sybil was a fake? (Fun Fact: our first pet goat was named Sybil, because she was kind of nuts.)
Hands down, the best scene was the Kanye West dance-off. McAvoy should’ve won an Oscar based on that scene alone. (I’m only slightly kidding.) I’ve been hard on McAvoy in the past, but his performances in Split amazed me in their depth and variation. I want to go back across his past films and start watching – I’ve literally only seen him as either Xavier or garden gnome. (The work he’s done on his body certainly doesnt hurt, either.) I need to start with Wanted and Atomic Blonde, but I’m open to other suggestions.
I don’t know where Anya Taylor-Joy came from, but I’m looking forward to seeing more of her. She’ll be in The New Mutants!
So, the “twist” – M. Night is known for his twists. It wasn’t ridiculous or overly convoluted. Actually, the biggest “twist” is that now I have to go watch Unbreakable.
Rating – PG-13
Runtime – 117 minutes
Genre – Thriller
Director(s) – M. Night Shyamalan
Writer(s) – M. Night Shyamalan
Actor(s) – James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula
BOB Rating –
Favorite Quote – "The authors of Hooters play on our incessant need for fat and man's incessant need to be in the proximity of augmented breasts. It's like Henry V ran a fast food franchise!" - Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley)