SCENESSCENESSCENESSCENES
    0
  •   was successfully added to your cart.
  • Home
  • Country
  • Pop
  • Rock
  • Americana
  • R&B
  • Culture
  • Premium
  • About
  • Contact
    • Music Submissions
    • Advertising
      • Media Kit
    • Customer Support
  • Shop

M. Night Shyamalan Scores Big with Psychological Thriller Split

    Home Feature M. Night Shyamalan Scores Big with Psychological Thriller Split

    M. Night Shyamalan Scores Big with Psychological Thriller Split

    By Daniel Melligan | Feature, Movie Review, Movies, Social Media | Comments are Closed | 25 January, 2017 | 0

    What happens to a mental patient with multiple personality disorder when he receives affirmative therapy that focuses on his extraordinary giftedness? In writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s universe (latest movie Split) it is permission to evolve into an Ubermensch. Only this superman is not a hero but a beast that saves the human race by destroying it. The law of the jungle has a new creature in town.

    Shyamalan’s Split opened the weekend of January 20 with a robust $40.9 million weekend haul, the third highest box office for this weekend ever. Projections place the final total of receipts at around $100 million. With a budget rumored to be near $5 million, the millennial horror audience appears to have reversed Shyamalan’s string of recent box office duds. What’s more, the surprise ending is sure to slingshot his next project into a similar stratosphere.

    Split portrays a mental patient, Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), diagnosed with 23 separate identities, who kidnaps three teenage girls (Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula) in preparation for the emergence of the twenty-fourth and most brutish personality yet. The interchange between captives and captor(s) is the primary conflict as the girls try to negotiate with an ever-changing identity.

    Like most of Shyamalan’s films, some details of story are left on the cutting room floor, presumably to leave the audience in a state of discomfiture. But there are times when those gaps stop the suspension of belief. Other times it is worth the admission to watch McAvoy take on all these characters. At one point, McAvoy riffs a dozen different personalities within a minute of screen time. Impressive to be sure.

    In the end, the question of whether the child of abuse has any chance at a normal adult life is only peripherally explored and the quandary is left to the thoughtful audience member. I doubt the millennials in the audience give much consideration to that inquiry.
    3.5 out of 5 stars

    Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, James McAvoy, Jessica Sula, M. Night Shyamalan, Split, Ubermensch

    Related Post

    • For Star Wars Fans, Does Solo Stir The Heart or Give Heartburn?

      By Chad Bonham | Comments are Closed

      The new standalone Star Wars tale endeavors to address key tenets of the human spirit with its focus on family and togetherness.

    • American Made

      Did Xenu Smuggle Cocaine for the Contras? Tom Cruise’s Fake History Movie, “American Made”

      By Jonathan Leaf | Comments are Closed

      “American Made” is to U.S. history what “Dumbo” is to elephant poaching. It’s lies piled on libel, smearing the names of Ronald Reagan and even Bill Clinton.

    • Brad's Status

      “Brad’s Status” Is a Winner

      By Jonathan Leaf | Comments are Closed

      How do we measure status and success? This funny, unsettling new Ben Stiller movie raises those uncomfortable questions. See it.

    • Prosperity

      “Prosperity” Is Rich In Ideas, But Perhaps Less In Answers

      By Jonathan Leaf | Comments are Closed

      The message of Prosperity is: Businesses need to look at profits and MORE. Are they good stewards of the planet? Are they ethical toward workers and customers?

    • Home Again

      “Home Again” Exiles Logic and Laughter

      By Jonathan Leaf | 1 comment

      Home Again is an intermittently watchable but idiotic movie for when you’re laid up in bed or recuperating in a hospital—or slightly drunk.

    • Sign up for our Daily Digest, where we deliver the top headlines in music and exclusive SCENES Live Sessions details straight to your inbox!

    Download Sessions and Buy Merch

    • Rebel Union on SCENES Live Sessions $2.99
    • Trousdale Trousdale on SCENES Live Sessions $2.99
    • Madeline Merlo on SCENES Live Sessions $2.99
    • Southern Halo on SCENES Live Sessions $2.99
    • Madysyn on SCENES Live Sessions $2.99
    • Media Kit
    • Privacy Policy
    © 2022 | All Rights Reserved
    • Home
    • Country
    • Pop
    • Rock
    • Americana
    • R&B
    • Culture
    • Premium
    • About
    • Contact
      • Music Submissions
      • Advertising
        • Media Kit
      • Customer Support
    • Shop
    SCENES
      0 items