"The Split" belongs to the heist genre : the first part is devoted to the planning and execution of a daring heist, the second part is devoted to the in-fighting between the various gangsters after the loot has gone missing. The movie has a clever premise, a twisty plot, a series of interesting settings and a glorious cast. Yet the result, somehow, is less than the sum of its parts.
Perhaps this is due to an uncertainty in tone : "The Split" seems to hesitate, almost continually, between comedy on the one hand and thriller/crime on the other. I can't shake off the impression that the plot might have worked better if it had been turned into a grimly realist crime movie, perhaps leavened with a pinch of sardonic humor here and there. And perhaps lead actor Jim Brown radiated too much warmth and humanity as antihero McClain, who, to me, would have made more sense as a stealing and killing machine obsessed with getting his share.
Anyhow, the casting of a black actor, to wit Jim Brown, as McClain must have felt like a breath of fresh air in 1968.
Lovers of spectacularly bad haircuts can gaze upon the monstrous coiffure inflicted upon an innocent Donald Sutherland. This must count as one of the most unflattering haircuts seen in cinema, along with the diabolical number from "Diabolik".
Perhaps this is due to an uncertainty in tone : "The Split" seems to hesitate, almost continually, between comedy on the one hand and thriller/crime on the other. I can't shake off the impression that the plot might have worked better if it had been turned into a grimly realist crime movie, perhaps leavened with a pinch of sardonic humor here and there. And perhaps lead actor Jim Brown radiated too much warmth and humanity as antihero McClain, who, to me, would have made more sense as a stealing and killing machine obsessed with getting his share.
Anyhow, the casting of a black actor, to wit Jim Brown, as McClain must have felt like a breath of fresh air in 1968.
Lovers of spectacularly bad haircuts can gaze upon the monstrous coiffure inflicted upon an innocent Donald Sutherland. This must count as one of the most unflattering haircuts seen in cinema, along with the diabolical number from "Diabolik".