Split

The King is back in full force. While others pound it into you for two hours and go soft at the end, Shyamalan spends more than half the film escaping to comedic proprieties that are quite creepy knowing that three young girls are being held against their will in the basement. While McAvoy is cutely tripping on his tongue, or strictly driven by OCD (if the Academy wasn't so exclusive to certain genres, the Oscar nomination would have been there for him), somewhere in the back you begin to sense a creeping evil. The last half hour is pure phantasmagoria driven to the extreme, but so precisely handled cinematically that the dark vibe will knock a hole out from within your head. Anya Taylor-Joy will be a big star one day (hopefully outside the genre). PS: The bar scene isn't gratuitous - it's a confident and bold joke that harkens back to a time when some people and some things made us feel confident. (19/01/2017)

I’m split with this film, to put it mildly. On the one hand, Shyamalan holds a strong card with James McAvoy, who delivers an amazing performance. It’s also well crafted, several parts manage to generate a dark, almost evil atmosphere, which is contributed by a cacophonous score and nice cinematography. On the other hand, I was unable to overcome the sensation (at least during the first viewing) that the mythology behind the story is utterly stupid, even ridiculous in some places. My experience was like riding a rollercoaster: nice… nice… nice.. pretty good… nice.. hell, this was stupid… nice… nice… oh no… But when I look back at the mythology, it doesn’t seem as stupid as it did during the screening (for instance, it has some interesting analogies about faith and religion), and now I’m more inclined to believe that the execution is a bit sloppy. For the time being, I’ll leave it at three stars, though it’s leaning towards four (and a second viewing might help). In any case, I think The Visit was better, but, this one’s nowhere near the low levels Shyalaman’s films reached between 2008 and 2013. And a spoilery PS: It is very sad that the first Czech review (yeah, Fuka’s) is not only built on spoilers, but also the result of a misunderstanding of the film or of inattention to it, or a distortion or embellishment of the plot. Specifically in these passages: “At the end of the film, Kevin’s doctor also goes into his cellar, and she knows the terrible truth: There’s a 24th identity hidden in Kevin, one that’s not human but a supernatural monster!” Or “During the entire climax, it never occurs to the main character to repeat Kevin’s full name to render him harmless again.” Those are pure lies. Alas, the post-truth era. It doesn’t matter that someone is using bullshit as an argument, what’s important is that they have a strong opinion and trash the film. EDIT: After a week, I’m adding the fourth star. I keep coming back to the film (in good will). In this case it would be a pity to rate it as average, even if the complaints listed above remain, but they are no longer so intense. (19/01/2017)

They say Shyamalan is back with this film, but I have the feeling that he never fully left. With a few exceptions, he's still doing the same stuff: ghost stories, or at least thrillers, often with naturalistic elements, where the primary role is played for 90 percent of the film's running time by a crystallizing twist that more or less shocks at the end. But once the rules are set, it's good to stick to them. And so, when the whole film has the undertone of the reality of the laws of physics of the contemporary world, it is good to stick to them for the whole duration, because that final game-changer irritated me a lot. And this is one of the reasons why Now You See Me, which pissed off many a film fan with its digital trick escapades, was a flop. Maybe at least McAvoy will get an award for his performance, it was awesome! (29/01/2017)

An uncompromising thriller about everything bad being good for something. James McAvoy shines fully, supporting characters deliver adequately, and if it weren't for the fact that the script occasionally pushes too much, I would leave with nothing but applause. The subject matter, which is professionally close to me, is just sufficiently overdone at the edge of the supernatural, so it could perhaps open the eyes of a few people. M. Night Shyamalan is, to my great delight, once again being hailed by the public as the king, but I don't plan to welcome him back. Because, for me, he never left. (19/01/2017)

It’s not that I didn’t want to shout “Mr. *****!” (mentioning that name would be a spoiler) while listening to the first notes of James N. Howard’s soundtrack classic in the movie. And not that I didn’t get chills down my spine at that moment. But in Split, which has practically no point or moment of surprise, this plot “extension” doesn’t serve any purpose, which is a proof that Shyamalan – despite all the wounds on his soul caused by his fall from grace in Hollywood – did not become a superman. But even so, the film was two hours pleasantly spent. Shyamalan has an irresistibly unique style, which I like to remind myself of by watching his divine trilogy. (08/02/2017)