【Double Cross (1996)】

Here's the most shocking M. Night Shyamalan twist in 18 years: Critics are Double Cross (1996)loving his latest movie, Split.

Not since 1999's The Sixth Sensehas one of the polarizing director's films been this much of a hit with reviewers, who currently have Splitat 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's slightly better than After Earth (11%), The Last Airbender (6%), The Happening (18%) and Lady in the Water (24%) -- and easily his best rating since Sixth Sense (86%).

His last film, The Visit, eked out a 64% fresh rating, so Splitmay signal a return to form. Or it could just mean that there are many, manysides to Shyamalan.

Speaking of, if you asked someone how many personalities is enough, they would probably agree that 23 is too many. But in Split, James McAvoy plays a person (Kevin, but you could refer to him by many names) dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder -- one body which houses almost two dozen personalities.

Here's a sampling of what critics see in Split:

For Variety's Peter DeBruge, the biggest twist in the psychological thriller was its high quality.

Rest assured, there are plenty of proper twists to follow, none more unexpected than the fact that Shyamalan himself has managed to get his groove back after a slew of increasingly atrocious misfires. To be fair, it’s hard to imagine any writer/director sustaining a career based almost entirely on surprising audiences. And though he lost us for a while there — water-intolerant aliens, anyone? — by trading on ingenuity rather than big-budget special effects, Shyamalan has created a tense, frequently outrageous companion piece to one of his earliest and best movies.

In an early review last year, The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore called the film "a long overdue comeback" for M. Night Shyamalan, whose films since The Sixth Sensehave garnered mixed reviews at best.

Escalating suspense as Fletcher comes close to uncovering Barry's crime hits all the right genre notes, veering into outright horror near the end. The director ties themes together at the end with more finesse than usual, letting a couple of meaningful visuals speak for themselves where he might have thrown in a line or two of explanatory dialogue. And as for that final twist, it's a doozy.

At the same screening, The Guardian's Jordan Hoffman wrote: "It’s important to say that Split doesn’t hinge on a twist ending. It is a full and satisfying film that, if you stopped watching 18 seconds before the conclusion, would still suit as a juicy bit of smart horror."

In fact, Hoffman found the best moments to focus on learning more about the nature of the main character's condition.

Usually when a character talks to a shrink it’s because the screenwriter couldn’t find a more elegant way to weave in exposition. However, with Split, despite being a horror-thriller, the most fascinating moments are the ones McAvoy spends on Dr Fletcher’s couch. Split goes all-in on McAvoy slipping from persona to persona, and luckily he’s got the acting chops to sell it. With only minor costuming changes he morphs from an angry clean freak to a flamboyant fashion designer to a precocious kid.

Empire's Kim Newman said that "...perhaps frustrated by the attention paid to his most easily parodied habit, Shyamalan holds off on a twist in favour of a measured development of a far-out premise."

Newman was one of many critics drawn to McAvoy's performance, which holds up the entire weight of the film.

McAvoy seizes with obvious relish on the role of one man with 23 personalities due to be usurped by a 24th who is more animal than man. Head finely stubbled as his Professor X cut grows out, he uses a few props (glasses, a woolly hat) but mostly conveys Kevin’s alters...with changes of expression and voice. It’s a show-off tour de force, and McAvoy is dazzling throughout — funny, creepy, threatening, pathetic and monstrous by turns.

It's a sentiment echoed by USA Todaycritic Brian Truitt:

McAvoy is superb in a taxing role. Having to play Kevin’s various sides is a physical role where the Scottish actor proves himself a real chameleon. He fully inhabits each of the characters, sometimes changing accent, other times switching wardrobe, but McAvoy makes it clear they’re all part of the same person and not someone wildly different — for example, Patricia is very much a woman but doesn’t wear a wig to feminize Kevin's shaved head.

Along with McAvoy, Rolling Stone's Peter Travers also had praise for the Kevin's psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley).

"The stellar Buckley brings such warmth and conviction to the role that she allows us to see Kevin as a human being and not just a construct for tricked-up suspense," Travers wrote.

Splitis in theaters Jan. 20.