SPLIT

[Dudley]

Well, that is a rather good movie.  Shyamalan back on form after what must be the longest losing streak ever enjoyed by a director who still managed to get work.

Do NOT click on spoiler tag if you haven't seen the film.  Seriously.

[spoiler]So, anyone else see this?  What to make of the final diner scene?  Is this going to be a trilogy?[/spoiler]

[JOE SOAP]

I'm sure the studio found it really hard to resist promoting Split from a certain marketing perspective in regards heralding Shyamalan's "comeback". The balls on both the studio and Shyamalan for selling it this way, even if it is going to split the audience, so to speak. Being low-budget certainly was part of that decision.

[Eric Plumrose]

Quite enjoyed it, though not as much as THE CRAPPENING.

It even goes some way to acknowledge the controversy surrounding DID only to lose the good will engendered with an ending the significance of which requires foreknowledge and good will to work.

[spoiler]The flashbacks, while thematic, serve bugger-all purpose too[/spoiler] and feel like more cheating on Shyamalan's part.

Still in two minds about it. Oho.

[JOE SOAP]

It even goes some way to acknowledge the controversy surrounding DID only to lose the good will engendered with an ending the significance of which requires foreknowledge and good will to work.

I think it gets away with it because it puts a [spoiler]fantasy/comic[/spoiler] spin on DID - if it had been realistic in its treatment, it would've failed, considering the [spoiler]context the film reveals itself to be a part of at the end[/spoiler].

[Eric Plumrose]

While I'm inclined to think Shyamalan would opt for melodrama over subtlety, a more realistic depiction of DID and its controversy could have made for a more interesting film no matter how gloriously distasteful and disastrous. Regardless (and whether it was his intention all along), Shyamalan [spoiler]jettisons Casey's trauma both now and then in favour of Kevin's healing factor and what transpires to be a two-hour teaser trailer for something else entirely[/spoiler].

That's the twist. The whole thing's [spoiler]a prelude to UNBREAKABLE 2, the original being a movie I have less than zero affection for[/spoiler]. Good will . . . gone.

Fantasy, be damned. [spoiler]Professor X Wolverine aside[/spoiler], I suspect for some SPLIT is still a legitimate depiction of 'schizophrenia' and that for many more the association of mental illness and violence is only being reinforced.

[Rara Avis]

I just posted in the other thread about this. I thought it was pretty entertaining without taking any of it too seriously. Well it wasn't a twist but the ending left me a bit confused because [spoiler]I didn't like Unbreakable when I saw it and the significance of Bruce Willis appearing was lost on me.[/spoiler]

However I take Eric's point, for those who understand this is not an accurate representation of mental illness it is an entertaining movie but for those who don't it can reinforce a dangerous stereotype.

In regards to [spoiler]Casey, when I think about it now the flashbacks are almost irrelevant because the past is never brought to bear on the present. Yes her scars from self mutilation save her but she remains a mute  victim at the end.[/spoiler] I'm not sure what message the director was trying to get across there.

[Hawkmumbler]

Yeah that ending is kinda...odd. [spoiler]Making a throw back to a previous movie is neat and all but it just kinda fell flat for me.[/spoiler]

As for the movie itself...meh?

[Rara Avis]

Yes agreed [spoiler]especially since there were no other references to it in the movie[/spoiler]. Or were there?

Ah there are worse ways to spend your evening ..

[JOE SOAP]

Yes agreed [spoiler]especially since there were no other references to it in the movie[/spoiler]. Or were there?

There's the train platform he lays the flowers beside - [spoiler]Kevin's father is said to have abandoned Kevin as a child aboard a train; leading the other personalities to believe that "the Beast" is hidden inside a train car. Kevin's father may have died in the train crash from which Bruce Willis was the sole survivor. The Beast personality finally manifests in a train carriage.[/spoiler]

[Rara Avis]

I missed that part of the backstory and had wondered about the significance of that action and location.

I never would have put that together, thanks Joe.