Movie Review: Split (2016)

Synopsis: Three teenage girls are abducted and imprisoned by a man with 23 diagnosed personalities. They need to find a way to escape before his 24th personality, which is referred to as "the Beast" finds a way to make an appearance.

Who's in it? The movie stars James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula and Betty Buckley.

Review: My wife still wants to see the movie Glass so, since my daughter had her last community theater after party yesterday evening, we took the time to watch the film that precedes it, Split, so we were up to speed on the trilogy. While there were things about this movie I thought were interesting, I honestly wasn't as big of a fan as I thought I'd be.

I'll start out by saying James McAvoy is awesome as the main villain, Kevin. He didn't just play a person with multiple personalities; he brought those personalities to life and was very believable, whether he was portraying the OCD-inflicted Dennis or the 9-year-old Hedwig. There was also just enough unpredictability with his character to keep the fate of his abductees in question.

My biggest problem with this film is it doesn't really capitalize on that great performance. To put it bluntly, it was kind of a dull movie and there were times when I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. 

I think the best way to describe this is it's an origin story that didn't need to have an entire film. The movie spends nearly 2 hours introducing a villain that could have literally been summarized through a few minutes of exposition in another film, and we don't even get his full story. The movie spends more time telling us about his victim's troubled childhood than his, even though past trauma likely played a role in his mental illness.

The film also doesn't get a lot of help from the supporting cast. The sense of urgency from the three teens comes in spurts and, most of the time, they don't do much of anything. Even Casey (Taylor-Joy), who is the main victim, spends most of the film talking and the attempts to escape are weak at best.

Plus, what the heck was up with his psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Buckley)? She knew three teens were kidnapped and there was something clearly going on with her patient around the same time. Yet it seemed to take her forever to connect the dots and, when she did, she didn't even bother calling the police. I think she might have been just as much of a villain as he was.

Final Opinion: It's an interesting character but, again, not one that had enough of an origin story to justify needing his own movie.

My Grade: C

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Movie Review: Mercy (2016)