A man with multiple identities kidnaps three teenage girls and holds them captive, leaving them to work out which of his personalities...
Certificate
Duration117 mins
Review by
M. Night Shyamalan returns to form with this utterly mental but extremely effective thriller. James McAvoy gives everything he has as a man with 23 personalities, with a possible 24th emerging. He makes for an extremely interesting character, who is both funny and absolutely terrifying. McAvoy is perfect in the role, and performs one the greatest dances ever seen on screen. The story follows him as he kidnaps three girls (which is just a fantastically executed sequence). The main girl Casey is played brilliantly by Anya Taylor-Joy. Her back story is perhaps a little cliched, but she acts the hell out of what she is given. The other two girl are a very two-dimensional which is probably the films biggest flaw. McAvoy's pyschologist I also found to be a little underwritten, although she is generally performed well by Betty Buckly. One thing about Split is that the film doesn't seem to always work, and at one point I actually thought Shyamalan had completely messed it up. However, without spoiling anything, the last scene of this film is fantastic, and adds a whole new layer to this film which completely fixes elements that seemed off, and I can't wait to see this again to pick up on the hints toward the twist. With Split, Shyamalan takes risks and just goes for it with his script, and though it seemingly doesn't always work it all comes together at the end. Can't wait to see where this goes next.