[**1/2 stars / *****]
Kevin, a man with multiple-personality disorder carjacks and kidnaps three girls from a supermarket parking lot.He locks up the girls in a room and chillingly reveals at different times, a few of his 23 distinct personalities. Even as the three girls get more desperate to escape, Kevin's psychiatrist gets ominous emails from Kevin's protective personality Barry.
M. Night Shyamalan has the gift for compelling visuals, eerie atmospherics, and engaging dialogue.He has that uncanny knack to build suspense into a film, scene after scene.What he hasn't had for a long time is a solid, convincing storyline, ever since his debut masterpiece The Sixth Sense (1999) and the very effective, Signs (2002).
Split review
Split, despite the lack of story, and psychiatric mumbo-jumbo is still mildly engaging to an extent.But once Shyamalan gets to his oft-repeated twist climax, it merely scratches the horror/thriller genre surface.
Catch it for James McAvoy's alluring, impressive take as a dissociative identity disorder patient and some genuine Shyamalan moments.
Maybe the Bruce Willis cameo will result in a better, bigger film.Until then, die-hard Shyamalan fans have to contend with more The Sixth Sense reruns. Phew.
