Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Split (2017)

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 01-31-2017, 05:36 PM:

A schizophrenic with twenty-three (or is it twenty-four?) separate personalities kidnaps three teenaged girls from a shopping mall parking lot, unaware that one of the girls is almost as messed up as he is. At the Regal Stadium 12 Theatre, Nanuet, New York.

*****

To buy into the premise of this strange but engrossing movie, you have to accept that multiple-personality disorder is a thing, and that people suffering from it can change their bodies along with their personalities. For instance, a schizophrenic who is otherwise perfectly healthy may need insulin if one of his personalities is diabetic, or a otherwise blind person may regain his vision when another personality manifests itself and claims to see. Both those things are controversial, but you’ll have to roll with it if you are going to get into the movie, in which Barry/Dennis/Hedwig/Patricia/et.al. hold three young girls captive in preparation for the emergence of a final horrifying personality, which is referred to as simply “The Beast”. It’s an amazing performance by actor James McAvoy, who is utterly convincing, and Anya Taylor-Joy does an excellent job as the young captive who has already dealt with her share of crazy.

Since this is an M. Night Shyamalan picture, people will be unfairly demanding some kind of twist ending. There isn't one per se, but there is a surprise at the end. I won’t ruin it, but it turns out that the film takes place in the same “universe” as another popular Shyamalan movie from years ago, and may be actually be a sort-of prequel to a sequel to it.

Pretty good movie, but may be a little too long for the material. Stay for the last shot, though, if you go.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-10-2017, 08:36 PM:

We're playing this one right now to fill the last slot before "Beauty and the Beast" comes in.

I liked it in a strange way -- it was riveting, mostly because of James McAvoy's performance. I know there's zero chance for an Oscar nomination for this movie, but he deserves one. He's 24 levels of creepy in this movie.

The story, as noted above, is a little preposterous. I'm not really a horror movie buff, but I think horror fans will find it a little wanting in the "scares" department; it's more a psychological thriller than a horror movie. I was hoping the girls would find more possible ways out; it could have been more interesting if it'd had more action along those lines.

The "surprise" at the end is pretty cool, but if you haven't seen the other movie that it ties into, it'll be meaningless, which is sad. The other weird thing is that they put the now-obligatory "reprise" of the movie's title right before that ending scene, meaning a bunch of audience members will be standing up and putting on their coats or maybe even leaving and not getting to see it. The scene demands close attention, so those people will miss out.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 04-03-2017, 01:59 AM:

It took about 16 years or so, but M. Night Shyamalan finally came up with a movie that could actually be qualified as good.

M. Night seemingly cannot stay away from the supernatural for long, but at least this time, it worked out in his favor. Maybe his talent is better being used in medium budget productions like this than in big A-list bombs like After Earth.

quote: Mike Blakesley
The "surprise" at the end is pretty cool, but if you haven't seen the other movie that it ties into, it'll be meaningless, which is sad. The other weird thing is that they put the now-obligatory "reprise" of the movie's title right before that ending scene, meaning a bunch of audience members will be standing up and putting on their coats or maybe even leaving and not getting to see it. The scene demands close attention, so those people will miss out.

To be honest, I'm done with those "after-the-credits" scenes, having to check on sites like Mediastinger.com if it might be useful to sit trough anywhere between 5 or 10 minutes of credits. It was fun for a while, but I don't see the point anymore, is it to bolster the ego of those who worked on the movie? I'm still waiting for the first movie that uses those extra minutes of "attention" for product placement and advertising, beyond advertizing a potential sequel.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-29-2017, 04:05 AM:

Like so many movies, I rarely have time to see them in the theatre and SPLIT is no exception so I just saw it on HBO.

I rather enjoyed it. Enough cannot be said about McAvoy's performanc(es). HE was really awesome.

This not a "based on a true story" type movie so I don't get why people need to get into the philosophical discussion of the legitimacy of the condition. It is a movie. For the duration of the movie, it is real because the movie says it is.

I can't help but think that it could have been edited a bit more to bring the running time down. Two of the girls were pretty much throw aways. It was almost as if after shooting the abduction scene, they were stuck with having them in the movie until they could tuck them away somewhere. I agree that if some more excape attempts were made with them that it would have been more interesting.

Until now, "Identity" (John Cusak movie from 2003) was my benchmark for this type of story. I think SPLIT bests that but both are worth seeing.

I'm tough on grading so I'll go 3.5 stars out of 5 and oddly, probably one of the best movies of 2017 (thus far).