The twist-loving director’s career has had its highs and lows over the years.
Back in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Shyamalan was praised for hits like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs.
However he soon saw a drop in positive reviews with films like The Happening, The Last Airbender and After Earth and claimed, 'My critics will never be happy.'
But now it looks like he’s back on form with Split, a film that sees McAvoy star as a man with 23 personalities who kidnaps three girls, following a host of positive reviews.
Variety“A welcome return to form from The Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan, whose unhinged new mind-bender is a worthy extension of his early work.”
Total Film“This is a Shyamalan movie through and through. And it's his best in some time, thanks to a magnetic McAvoy.”
The Independent“For much of its running time, the film is tense and genuinely intriguing.”
The Hollywood Reporter“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.”
Empire“Shyamalan papers over plot-holes with dry black humour and well-judged suspense, and - as always - holds back some surprises.”
While the positive reviews outweighed the negative, the film did still split (pun intended) the critics somewhat.
New York Post“Unfortunately, you could probably improve Split by editing out everything around McAvoy and making it an experimental one-man show.”
Time Out“There's a tiny shiver of something in the final few seconds that doesn't exactly change what we've watched so much as say, ‘I’m still M. Night Shyamalan, and I'm still crazy!’ He's become his own twist ending.”
Split is released in UK cinemas on January 20, 2017.
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