Movie: Split
My Rating: 3 stars
This movie had a lot going for it in theory. It’s a dark thriller about a man with split personalities, staring James McAvoy—one of my favorites. It’s a ticking-clock scenario in which kidnapped teens are trying to escape from a madman before he murders them all. It all sounds very exciting. I just wish the movie had lived up to all this potential. The movie ended up being all set-up without a very satisfying follow-through.
A group of three very spoiled teenage girls is kidnapped. They seem to have been targeted specifically because of this brattiness. Of course, they’re not being told why they’ve been taken, or what their captor wants from them. But it becomes clear pretty quickly that their kidnapper isn’t even a little bit sane. The girls are locked in a room and based on the voices they can hear through the door, they think they may be being held by a group of several different people—the man who took them, a woman, and maybe a boy. But, when they manage to get a peak, it becomes blood-chillingly clear that they are all one person with a split personality—the madman who abducted them. Their only chance it to try to convince one of this man’s more sympathetic personalities to help them to escape. Of course, the girls don’t know who they’re going to get from moment to moment. And, they don’t know how much of this personality split is real, or if it’s just calculated to terrify them. It’s that uncertainty that’s the most terrifying part about all of this.
But, I really don’t think I recommend this movie to very many people. I do admit that the premise of the story is very interesting. And, James McAvoy’s acting is pretty amazing. In total, I think I remember him playing seven completely distinct characters, and his demeanor changes so entirely from one to the others that you know exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. So, if you’re a fan of James McAvoy like I am, perhaps the movie is worth a look. But, the story is really pretty disappointing. It’s just poorly executed. It’s another M. Night Shyamalan creation, and as usual, he fails to deliver on a fairly promising set-up. So, don’t waste your time unless you can’t tear yourself away from gazing into McAvoy’s sweet baby-blues.