Credit: John Baer
REVIEW: M. Night Shyamalan Delivers His Best Thriller to Date with “Split” Starring James McAvoy
The name of director M. Night Shyamalan has often been associated with specific genre of films, which are mostly horror or thriller. Having such connection with the genre he’s famous with, Shyamalan is back with his newest movie called “Split”. After successfully releasing a breakout horror flick “The Sixth Sense” in 1999, Shyamalan wrote and directed “Split” last year and it generated good reviews among Hollywood media. A press screening for the film was held recently in Indonesia and we had the chance to watch the movie in its entirely. If you enjoy watching Shyamalan previous works, you must have loved this one. As the director has professed his love for Hitchcock, we could see the influence from “The Master of Suspense” in “Split”.
Credit: John Baer
The movie tells about three kidnapped girls, Casey Cooke (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), Claire (Haley L. Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula) who are on their way home after attending a birthday party. The kidnapper is a man who had 23 different personalities that reside within him and each of them has different names (he could be Dennis, Kevin, Hedwig or even Patricia). The complex character is executed well by James McAvoy. Later on, the three ladies are threatened to be fed to The Beast (one of his personality as well) if they do not follow his instruction. They were confined in an unknown place without a way to escape. The plot in this film is pretty compelling and Casey Cooke’s introverted past and the role of a psychiatrist who holds an important part in the story are also shown. Anya Taylor-Joy previously has acted well in a horror movie called “The Witch”, so her portrayal as the desperate Casey is very convincing in this one.
Credit: Universal Pictures
As an audience, we are taken into a mix of different emotions while watching “Split”. In some way, Shyamalan portrays Kevin’s character as someone that we could grow our sympathy for. After all, he is just a human who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and this is a disease that he does not ask for. While in the other hand, his cruelty and lunacy send shivers to our bodies and make us root for the three victims there. Shyamalan’s thorough observation and research about this disease are paid off and for those who used to mock his old films, get ready to turn your opinion around with this film. The film scoring in “Split” is also spot on and adds a thrilling sensation throughout the movie. Its domination on top of US box office for the past weeks shows that “Split” is truly M. Night Shyamalan’s most gripping thriller movie to date. The film has hit Indonesian theaters starting from today. Your money will be worth to spend if you watch “Split”.
Reporter: Eiji/Editor: Novita Widia
