Split - M. Night Shyamalan (2017)

I approached M. Night Shyamalan's "Split" with mixed feelings. I had heard the film was the best work Shyamalan had done since his 2000 masterpiece, "Unbreakable."

But I had a problem with the film's concept. Until now, I had refused to watch the film because it looked like an excuse to exploit the mentally ill for plot twists, backstories and any other cheap tricks one could think of.

The story centers around three teenage girls (Anna Taylor-Jo, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula) who have been kidnapped by Kevin, (James McAvoy) a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID.) DID is better known as the term for MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder.) Kevin has twenty-three personalities and they all wait for a twenty-fourth personality known as "The Beast." We're meant to think there is something Messianic transpiring in his head.

The personality in charge at the time when he snatched the girls was violent and deliberate in the act. He was not frightened. Every movement was bold.


Then, as the man continues to interact with the girls, other personalities, kinder ones, have taken over.

As an actor, McAvoy deftly takes all alters, benign and malicious, and balances them like a pro.

And so goes the movie. They try to get help from some of Kevin's alters while trying not to get caught by some of the others. Before the story is wrapped up tight there are twists and turns we do not see coming.


All of the events thus far, all that we see of the other personalities, Kevin does out of fear for the oncoming twenty-fourth personality, known as "The Beast."

I will concede that "Split" is Shyamalan's best work since "Unbreakable."

It is a perfect psychological horror film.

Also, "Split" is the single most offensive movie I have ever seen.

Why is the concept of DID so frightening? Is it just morbid fascination? I have to admit Shyamalan has crafted an incredibly tense film wrapped around the phenomenon.

I think the idea of multiple personalities opens up a world of possible scenarios, especially to those who have no concept of what mental illness is. We don't even know who the villain is here. He or she hides in plain sight. The situation could blow up anytime because the villain is right there and can jump out at any scene.

Shyamalan uses his own presumptions of people with DID and crafts them into an accomplished film.

Not only does Shyamalan reveal himself as somebody who knows nothing about mental illness, he exploits DID and other disorders for entertainment. It  villainizes those who struggle with mental illness.

Shyamalan sees patients of this type of illness as sources of potential violence. He uses them to frighten us, just as our world is trying to get rid of the stigma of mental illness.

People with mental illness are not killers nor are they "Beasts." The name he gave the villain, Beast, identifies all people with DID or mental illness as potential monsters of whom we all should be afraid.

Kevin talks of all his personalities siting in one place together in a room with chairs. Shyamalan would have us believe that one with DID can switch from one personality to another at will. Medically and psychologically this is incorrect, as it is not particularly typical for DID patients to have that much control over their alters. Not only that, but this mindset is dangerous and irresponsible.

And not for nothing, but Shyamalan does not limit his prejudices to the mentally ill. "Split" is also unbelievably misogynistic, homophobic and most of all, trans-phobic.

And just as an aside, I don't usually address matters like this, because of my love for hardcore material, but as a father, I have to tell you that "Split" should been rated 'R.' I would never take a thirteen-year-old to see it.

And despite how clever of a thriller "Split" is, I can not, in good conscience, recommend this movie.

But I must admit, I am damn excited about the prospect of revisiting the "Unbreakable" universe in the near future.

David Dunn is an unsung hero.

Filth - Jon S. Baird (2013) Does "Filth" Stand Up To "Trainspotting's" innovation?

Along with films like "Pulp Fiction," "Trainspotting" revolutionized the way all of us watch movies today. "Trainspotting" naturally wove between true life and fantasy. Finally, we were starting to hear our heros' inner-monologue. These films, along with others, unlocked a fifth wall.

The films also created a new height for dark comedies.

When "Filth" opens, Bruce, (James McAvoy), a detective, is focused on the race in his department over who will get a much envied promotion. It may not sound like much power, but Bruce covets it. It's a jump from Detective Sergeant to Detective Inspector and Bruce's lust for power has no threshold.

Bruce goes to great lengths to undermine the others trying for the job. Bruce is so amoral, he outstrips Harvey Keitel's LT in Abel Ferrara's 1992's "Bad Lieutenant," one of the most hedonistic and vomitous roles of the '90's, and probably any other decade, I guess.

Meanwhile, Bruce's lonely wife, (Shauna McDonald), has an insatiable lust for sex exceeded only by her lust for power. Power is her aphrodisiac. She loves power above all, even more than sex. Though it's power for her husband she wants, not for herself. Her sexual fantasy is to have Bruce to come home from work and call out, "Honey, I'm home! I'm a Detective Inspector!"

It does not take long before filmmaker Jon S. Baird establishes that Bruce is a bastard. He is the worst kind of cop and he belongs in prison. He is also the nastiest kind of man and deserves to be abandoned by everybody who loves him.

As this is based on the works of Irvine Welsh, it's no surprise to find that much of the story is wrapped around Bruce's so-called medication. These drugs collude with his natural fiendish disposition. The only brights spots of what you might call hope in his life are his consultations with his brilliant but rambling psychiatrist, Dr. Rossi (Jim Broadbent.)

Bruce's manipulations are masterful. He systematically ruins each contender for this promotion, both personally or professionally, friend or not. This changes a murder investigation that just so happens to be going on, into a minor backdrop.

As "Filth" continues, it becomes clear that the real, actual Bruce is only a cool guy in his own mind. But in reality, he's not suave or in any way impressive.



Much of the visual imagery in "Filth" is not as much fun as intended. It's hard to tell if these cheap cinematic tricks are inspirations of Welsh's book or "Trainspotting."

A pathetic attempt at a shocking twist at the start of act three is not enough to save this mess.

Baird is clearly trying to revisit the style, tone and fashion of "Trainspotting" and he falls tragically short.

The first part of the film is quick, funny and hard to criticize. Unfortunately, it falls tragically short due to sloppy character structure and plot development.

Not only does the "twist" fall short, but the entire third act is a contrived wreck. The only part of the film that really works is the deconstruction of Bruce's brain by the mad Dr. Rossi.

And not for nothing, but "Filth" is overtly homophobic and trans-phobic.

"Trainspotting" was innovative in style and tone, but it didn't exist just for the sake of itself. It had so much more to give. It had life and hope and joy to offer. We intensely cared about those characters, even Begbie.

I'm afraid that we just don't give a damn for Bruce.

Atomic Blonde - David Leitch (2017)

Violence, violence, violence, sweet bloody, graphic, unnecessary, creative violence!

It's been absent from our action films for too long. Remember when bad guys were killed over and over until you didn't think there could possibly be any bad guys left? It was awesome. But nowadays, everybody shoots for that PG-13 rating. Even the last two Die Hard movies were PG-13. And when they do release an R-rated film, even those are watered down.

From Batman to the Avengers to even John McLane in recent years, the good guys nowadays refuse to spill blood. And I'm all for that in real life. In real life, for God's sake, everybody restrain yourselves. But what I want out of action movies is bodies. I want protagonists like Riggs, not Murtaughs! (Even Murtaugh was willing to spill his share of blood. "No way you live. No way.") You know, when the bad guys can't shoot at all but every good guy is like the greatest shot ever, taking out thug after thug after thug? Ah, the amorality. I miss those days.

Well those days are back with a vengeance with David Leitch's "Atomic Blonde."

We are blessed with one of those wonderful good guys in Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) who, as a side note, could easily kick Detective Riggs' or John McClane's asses. She could even take on Ichi the Killer.

From the start, Leitch presents Lorraine as invincible. We just know that nobody is ever going to be able to kill this agent.

Lorraine is an undercover MI6 agent sent to retrieve very sensitive information against the backdrop of the week when the Berlin wall falls. The cold war may be coming to an end, but behind the scenes, intelligence agencies are still undermining their foes. What, did we expect trust between our superpowers to come immediately?

Lorraine is sent to investigate the murder of another agent and track down a list that will expose double agents and puts everybody in the Western intelligence community at risk.

Her superiors warn her not to trust anybody and send her off to Berlin. When she arrives, she meets her contact in a charming and violent car chase sequence.

Her contact is Percival, (James McAvoy) an agent already embedded in the area. It is hard to tell at first if he is a devil-may-care kind of nonchalant guy or if he is just reckless. As the pair of them start hunting down the list, Percival gives Lorraine cause to doubt him from the start.

She meets French intelligence agent Delphine Lasalle (Sofia Boutella) who is simply way over her head. This is her first assignment and it is clear to Lorraine that she does not yet have the cunning for a mission as convoluted as this one.

Percival traces down a man who has the list, or at least has it committed to memory. Now the goal is to get him out of Berlin and onto Western soil.

Betrayal comes fast and hard early and the story turns in so many ways that we are dizzy by the spinning.

The fun is seeing Lorraine caught into trap after trap and overcoming every single hurdle thrown her way. She uses any weapon she can find including pots and pans, a freezer door, loose rope laying around, stiletto heels and so many other objects one can not keep count. She is a talented and versatile killer. She can shoot, she beats her enemies to death, she stages car crashes designed to kill a single man, and of course, she can just stab the hell out of anybody.

Leitch treats this film like an insane body cam video. He delights in staging fight sequences that play out without cuts. It is like a collaboration between Jim Jarmusch and John Woo. "Atomic Blonde" definitely makes action movies fun again. Think the Bourne movies and a rock of crack having a love baby.

When the movie ended and the lights came up, I felt satisfied, just like one feels after having visited a Brazilian Steakhouse.

So indulge yourself. Watch and just enjoy the violence.

It's like witnessing a moment of cool in film history.