Split Review

Plot: 3 Girls are kidnapped and kept in a place by a man who suffers from multiple personality disorder. He has 23 identities of himself and warns the girls of a 24th one who is about to come.

Review: This review of mine will be containing some Spoilers, so please if you haven't watched the film please don't read the review.

So Split is a film directed by M. Night Shyamalan who is mostly known for the films which have some sense of super-naturalism in it. I saw this film with huge expectations and man the expectations (if not all) were met. The film is 117 minutes long and I was invested in it for most of the time.

Talking about the plot of the film. The plot started out as a somewhat normal Kidnapping type of film. But then as the story progresses, we see that the kidnapping goes way deeper than what is was meant for. For me, the pace of the film started after 30-35 minutes or so. I guess that is when Kevin's personalities come to light. At first many people would think how the hell is Shyamalan going to manage the space for 24 personalities. But yes he does. Hats off for that. I also for some time wondered what the hell does Casey's backstory have to do with this. But you see that the backstory is an integral part of Casey. Also we do have a Dr. Karen who's character is fleshed out quite good who tries to help our protagonist (antagonist).

Now about the performances. James McAvoy (who I better know as Professor Charles Xavier of X men) killed it. The personalities were portrayed by him were near perfect. I especially like the characters of Patricia and Hedwig. The 24th character (Beast) was not too convincing for me (Maybe I have a taste for violent films, so that is why I was expecting some gore in that part). Anna Taylor as Casey was also great. Actually if you see it is a film about the way how both Casey and Kevin deal with the abuse in their childhood in the present day. The film shows the contrast between these 2 behaviors in a very nice way. The role of Betty too as the caring doctor was great.

My Favorite scene would be towards the climax where Casey tells Kevin's whole name. Kevin comes to his normal self and asks Casey to kill him. But then the other personalities of Kevin come and scare off Casey. As I said above, the Beast wasn't too convincing for me, but Casey's fear during the scene actually made up for the horror that was needed for the scene.

Spoiler reveal: (which I had actually known for quite some time). We see Bruce Willis in the end as David Dunn sitting in a cafe watching a news about Kevin. Many Unbreakable fans (as myself) would be quite happy seeing that. Many people were waiting for a sequel to a Unbreakable. And I am happy we have got something close to that. Shyamalan too has said that his next film will be in this U/S U (My abbreviation for Unbreakable/Split Universe). So can't wait for David vs Kevin (if that would be the plot for the next film in this universe).

Final word: Split is actually a great film. Do watch out for the great performance by James McAvoy. Although little loose during the start, but once it keeps the grip it never loosens it till the very last scene. The opening and closing credits are also done in a quite interesting way.

So for me Split is an 8/10 film.