M. Night Shyamalan
Split

Practically "Split" (2016) is the sequel to "Unbreakable" (2000), which today certainly stands as one of the most popular films by director M. Night Shyamalan and the second chapter of a trilogy that will conclude with a film supposedly releasing in 2019 and that should foresee a meeting (more likely a clash) between the main characters of the first two films. Like its predecessor (but in a less gripping manner and more charged with psychological tension), "Split" starts from premises that are interesting and based on scientific assumptions (clearly exaggerated), and it develops by outlining the psychological and behavioral framework of the characters to then lead to a combination of high-tension thrillers like "Se7en" or more plainly "Saw" and superhero stuff like Marvel or DC Comics.

The protagonist of the film is Kevin Wendell Crumb. Inspired by the figure of Billy Mulligan (1955-2014), essentially the first criminal in USA history acquitted for dissociative identity disorder, Kevin has twenty-three different identities (each aware of the others) among which there are some dominant ones and others in conflict and disagreement with each other, and yet others that, for reasons of convenience, are suppressed by all the others. The film is wholly centered on the analysis and representation of the protagonist’s behaviors, which can appear extreme and even implausible, but which instead constitute scientifically proven realities. Certainly, the final mutation into the “beast” (a sort of sublimation of the 23 identities), a bloodthirsty killer practically possessing superhuman powers, including climbing walls, is indeed excessive, but since it is a thriller with fantastic content, I wouldn’t nitpick. Apart from that, if the question is whether a man can have multiple identities differing from each other in behavior, which from time to time assume a different physiognomy, which have knowledge and even structural qualities different and unique compared to all the others, and which in some cases are so “conditioned” as to assume what Stan Lee and the director would consider akin to superpowers - such as particular resistance to pain, for example - well, all this can correspond to the truth: an unresolved case rightly the subject of studies and attention from the scientific community for reasons that go beyond treating the pathology.

The leading actor, James McAvoy, is certainly good at representing the different personalities of Kevin, but on the whole - I must say - not extraordinary as I have considered him on other occasions. Maybe he's not as good as Samuel Lee Jackson (it’s not easy, it has to be said), but the limitation, beyond my everlasting disinterest in superhero movies, lies in the film as a whole: I would have approached such an interesting topic from a completely different perspective (as far as I know, Joel Schumacher and DiCaprio might be working on it). Instead, everything here is constrained in developing a story similar to "Unbreakable," but that works less well. The system of flashbacks typical of the genre is tedious here and explains without giving any particular impression. What is ultimately saved is only the fear for the three imprisoned girls. But that seems really too little to me.