S.P.L.I.T. is a 2018 Irish crime drama about 2 hitmen who are being filmed as they go about their day.
There have been many found footage features in the past years. Most of those hand held camera flicks were confined to just the horror genre. The whole faux documentary style seemed to only be used in comedic television series like The Office and Brooklyn 99. And now, from director Robbie Walsh, we get a movie that is a slightly lighter version of the controversial Man Bites Dog. It’s S.P.L.I.T.
The film follows an unseen documentary crew as they join two hired assassins on their work day, going from job to job as they kill their targets. The film treats each assignment as they do as just being routine, while one of the men seems to enjoy killing and finds new ways to do a hit. They are not doing it for any sense of vengeance, just a paycheck, even though both men are dangerous and have no moral decree about killing people, including innocent bystanders. They don’t want witnesses after all. That said, they do have a kind of friendship about them that is kind of endearing. They argue over foreign films and who is better, James Bond or Jason Bourne. They also have conversations about race and religion as well.
As the movie goes about their day of killing people for clients, I felt a bit discouraged that there wasn’t any growth with either main character. While one is a struggling alcoholic and the other is a slight sociopath, neither person seems to acknowledge their own shortcomings or try to overcome them. Maybe they are not suppose to, I’m not sure. Both men can see flaws in the other person and I wanted them to reflect on it themselves. Using the concept of a documentary crew filming the action is a great way to hide any budget issues. Walsh makes good use of his actors and crew to create this environment that feel raw and dirty. I just never understood what is the main goal our main characters are striving for.
Both lead actors in David Alexander and Walsh are very good and it’s easy to become invested with them despite all the heinous things they do. I just wanted some sort of conflict and resolution scenario that I never got. I thought the focus should have been on the documentary crew who are filming these two killers. We do learn a few things about them as they are filming but not much. S.P.L.I.T. ends up being a very good but not perfect dark comedy that I would still recommend you seek out.