Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Over the course of his career, M. Night Shyamalan has become quite the divisive director. He first won us over with brilliant thrillers like Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, but after duds like Lady in the Water and The Happening, our faith wavered in Shyamalan just a little bit. Fortunately, the director started getting back to the good stuff with The Visit in 2015, but it was this year’s Split, a mind-bending thriller starring James McAvoy, that truly proved Shyamalan was back on his game. The most surprising thing about Split, however, is just how much campy fun it really is (despite its dark subject matter).
Split, McAvoy stars as Kevin, a deeply troubled man with 23 (and counting) personalities who begins to fall apart when a new entity struggles to break through. After he abducts three teenage girls, the personalities wage war within him as his victims wage war against him – and a wild sequence of terrifying twists and turns ensue. It might sound pretty straightforward, but there’s a bit of a catch here – those 23 personalities allow Shyamalan and McAvoy to unleash some of the campiest, delightful work of their entire career. McAvoy seemingly revels in each of his more insane turns; there’s Hedwig, an emotional little boy with a lisp who seems to sympathize with the girls he’s (unknowingly) abducted, Patricia, a classy older woman with sinister intentions, and Dennis, the dominant creep who is instrumental in the abduction, to name a few. We don’t get to see every single personality on display, but that makes Split even more fun – what else lies beneath McAvoy’s classically handsome surface?
The most surprising (and enjoyable) thing about Split is just how adventurous it sees Shyamalan become. Sure, he plays into a handful of genre tropes, but watching this kind of thriller be steadily infused with a healthy dose of B-movie camp makes it one of the most unique viewing experiences in years. It’s easy to go into Split dreading watching a 30-something man play a 9-year-old boy and middle-aged woman while tormenting three young girls in an underground bunker, but once the pulpy, self-aware nature of it all becomes evident, you might find yourself wondering just how Shyamalan even got to this marvelous place. He’s clearly having fun throwing levity into an otherwise morbid storyline, and the manner in which he directs each of McAvoy’s wacky turns is a total treat. There’s a clear departure from habit here for Shyamalan, even if he does eventually succumb to a “twist” of sorts – but it’s not the kind of twist we’re used to seeing from him at all.
The rampant campiness of Split is exactly what makes it so damn memorable; Shyamalan fans may find themselves slightly disarmed by this approach, but in the end, his ability to perfectly toe the line between silly and straight-up serious allows this film to transcend any preconceived notions we may have when starting the film. “Playful” is never a word typically used to describe Shyamalan, but if Split is any indication of just how much fun he’s capable of having, the man has truly expanded his range.
