This weekend, a new M. Night Shyamalan movie descended into theaters. It stars James McAvoy as someone with dissociative identity disorder and two dozen personalities all fighting for control. At the movie's start, he abducts three young women and a reign of psychological terror ensues. The young women are trying to figure that out while being his captors. Meanwhile, his psychiatrist, Dr. Karen Fletcher Betty Buckley is trying to figure it out from meetings with her patient. During all this, Kevin or, rather, Dennis keeps talking about a new personality simply called The Beast. The Beast may want the girls for food, or he may prove that Kevin is supernatural, or he may not even exist at all. Angela Watercutter: OK, Brian, before we go too deep into Kevin's psyche and that bonkers final five minutes, I need to ask you: Did you like Split? I felt as though two-thirds of the way in I wanted to create a new personality that wasn't in the theater or who would allow me to leave it. It wasn't that I wasn't entertained—I thought McAvoy was really giving it 110 percent, and ever since The Witch I'll watch Taylor-Joy do anything—but I started feeling like the suspense was losing its grip on me. I sort of felt like it needed to get somewhere fast and it just wasn't getting there quickly enough for me. Also, after about an hour I was really burning out on the half-naked crying girls and ham-fisted child-molestation plots. Did those grate on you at all? I generally like Shyamalan's work well, most of it , so I don't want to rag on him too much since I did end up enjoying Split, but only because the movie paid off at the end. Or were you having fun throughout? But, like you, I'm a Shyamalan fan, and I'm well aware that every time he at a big idea, the movie inevitably suffers some collateral damage. It's what made his late '90s to early '00s work such essential opening-weekend viewing: What surprises are in store for me, and how much will they drive me crazy? So even if I occasionally rolled my eyes during Split, I never averted them—mostly because it exudes the sort of goony joy he denied himself during the earlier years of his career, when he was using the supernatural to tell bigger stories about grief The Village, Signs , abandonment The Sixth Sense , and mean trees The Happening. And, like 2015's giddy and equally low-budget The Visit, it forces Shyamalan to simplify his shocks: More blood, more menace, and a lot less fussiness about who lives, and who dies. Which leads us to the first twist, in which we learn The Beast is not some imagined alter-ego, but a real and really savage creature that McAvoy summons in the film's third act, which finds him running around Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, shirtless and causing chaos a not-uncommon sight at that location, especially after an Eagles-Cowboys game. Night had been telling the truth the whole time, without any narrative trickery or sleight-of-hand. I was expecting, and it's further proof of just how pared-down Shyamalan's filmmaking has become these days I also thought McAvoy's Beast, finally unleashed from his other personalities, made for an effectively chilly wall-crawler. How about you did you feel cheated by that first discovery? And how did you feel about that second, seemingly much more complicated twist? Like you, I was relieved when that wasn't the case. Throughout the movie I had been quietly worrying something in the reveal was going to be disappointing I think this happened largely because McAvoy's Patricia gave me vibes? When it then turned out that there was indeed a Beast that we would see manifest on-screen, that's when I really thought Split was making good on its promises. As for that second twist... One of the customers notes that the story reminds them of another event that happened years ago, when a madman in a wheelchair was apprehended—what was his name again? Apparently there were rumors floating around that this was going to be a low-key sequel to that film, but I definitely missed them, so I was doubly surprised by this. Most of the people in the theater I saw it in were too—and most of them had started leaving during the credits sequence where it happened. Nice Marvel Move there, M. So, as far as genuine shocks go, this one worked. But my bigger question now is: What does this mean? Was it just a wink at die-hard fans see what I did there? There were somewhat inexplicable references to Kevin's personalities being a kind of superhuman power—and being able to morph into a Beast who can bend bars is pretty, um, above-average—but I just don't know if that's the end game here. And after so many years of Shyamalan fake-outs, it's hard to know what to believe. That said, the idea of M. Night helming an original mini-franchise about superhumans who aren't necessarily superheroes doesn't sound like a terrible idea. In fact, it would be nice counter-programming to all the big-budget comic book movies. What about you, Brian? What did you think of The Twist? Do you have any idea what this might mean for Shyamalan's future films? You are, after all, the one here two actually. As far as wholly original superhero tales go, it's a minor marvel. Still, I had no idea that Shyamalan had actually been planning to return the Unbreakable world until that final moment. When I asked him about it, he told me he'd actually come up with McAvoy's character while writing Unbreakable, and had even included him in the film's original script. It wouldn't be totally out of nowhere, as Shyamalan's films have always been tethered together in some way, whether it's by location—Philadelphia and its surrounding regions have figured in nearly all of his movies—or by thematic concerns few filmmakers have dealt with the heartbreaks of parenting as frequently, or as empathetically. Uniting a few of his characters on-screen would make sense, and serve as a fitting third act for a guy who loves an unforeseen denouement... Night superheroes-versus-villians story Unbreakable 2? I kind of like where he is now: Working cheaper and creepier, readjusting his box-office and critical expectations, and finding a middle ground between grindhouse and art-house. As much as I'd dig seeing the further misadventures of Mr. Glass, we need a few more years of M. Night in full beast mode, running around and causing chaos. Who knows how this will all end? CNMN Collection © 2018 Condé Nast. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
