M. Night Shyamalan returns to the big screen with “Split!”
In the first trailer for “Split,” we see M. Night Shyamalan exploring the psychological thriller genre with X-Men Apocalypse’s James McAvoy as the lead. McAvoy turns up the psychological intensity playing a man consumed by his Multiple Personality Disorder and an unknown motive for kidnapping three young girls. Throughout this trailer we see his captives encountering multiple versions of McAvoy all while trying to escape before he executes his mysterious, sinister plan. Take a look at the trailer below.
I have to admit that the subject matter has me intrigued. While I may have said that about many Shyamalan films after viewing the trailer, I’ve become a bit more optimistic about the director. The main criticism of Shyamalan is his third act. Usually the first and second act of his films are so grandiose that the culmination and resolve of events in the third act equate to a lackluster ending.
What makes me hopeful for “Split” is that the ending could simply be that McAvoy’s character is driven by his disorder and audiences will most likely accept that. This may be one of the first M. Night Shyamalan films that can be enjoyed for the journey rather than facing ridicule for the ending. I may bite my tongue later, but I think “Split” has quite the potential to be a good Shyamalan film.