M. Night Shyamalan has returned and, dare I say it, he seems to be heading on the right track! After many misses at the box office (After Earth, The Happening, The Last Air Bender), Shyamalan seemed like he just went back to basics with last year's The Visit. To be honest, I was not expecting anything great from that film because of his more recent films, which is sad because Signs is one of my favorite movies. Not to mention other films like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. So, to see him become a joke among the casual movie goer is a shame. Luckily, I think he's found a groove and Split is the return of classic Shyamalan.
Split stars James McAvoy as Kevin, a man with 23 personalities who kidnaps three teenage girls, including Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy). This trailer is chilling, to say the least. It has a sense of total unpredictability and manages to elevate the level of tension as the trailer progresses. I also thought the music set the tone perfectly as it seemed to be cycling through multiple personalities as well. Beginning with an innocent sounding rhythm, followed by a more ominous tone as if it was slowly counting down from ten, and then those moments of a swift personality change that would coincide with am erratic sound. The music alone should be enough to sell an audience on what type of film this will be: uncomfortable, tense, and possibly terrifying.
Also, I cannot praise James McAvoy enough after watching this trailer. This isn't the kind of role I would expect from him, but after watching half of the footage, it was a no-brainer. It looked like he was so committed to this role because he manages to transform himself into these other personalities. To be honest, there's only one other actor I can think of that would fit this role and that's Daniel Radcliffe, but I'm so glad to see McAvoy playing this character. As for Anya Taylor-Joy, she is a rising star in Hollywood. I wasn't a huge fan of The Witch but I thought she was the stand out in that film by far, and I'm loving what I'm seeing from her in Morgan. Very interested to see how she plays off of McAvoy in this film.
Overall, I'm very excited for this film. I'm a fan of these actors and the plot is something that fits so well into this genre. However, I am going to try and go into this film with low expectations because we all know how good the trailer was for The Last Airbender. The only other thing that has me a little worried is the release date. January has a tendency of having disappointing films, but maybe this is a bright spot. I'm hoping Shyamalan has a great film in store for us with fantastic performances.
Split is slated for release on January 20, 2017.
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