Recommended

The film's story kicks into motion within a matter of seconds. 'Split' starts with three teenage girls attending a lunch party together. We are given a very brief understanding of who these girls are. While leaving the lunch party, the three teenagers are then attacked by an unknown man (played by James McAvoy). The three young teenagers wake up in a small room together and discover they cannot escape. Very quickly, they discover more about their unknown kidnapper. It turns out, he is not a normal man. The strange man that is holding them captive has up to 23 different personalities. Are these personalities good, threatening, or more importantly, could this man create even more personalities in due time? Our kidnapper regularly visits Dr Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who reveals more insight into the character and give us more tense moments as the film progresses on. As the audience, we are required to be patient to find out more information about the film's characters along the way. The biggest strength of this film comes from the acting talent of James McAvoy. This actor surprised me. Seeing James McAvoy walking around as a paranoid person one minute and then changing the character such as an older woman walking around in high heels the next minute had me amused but also very creeped out. It was also suspenseful to watch our leading ladies trying to figure out what on earth is going on with this psychotic kidnapper and learning safe ways they can interact with the strange man's personalities (remember there up to 23 of them!). Overall, movie lovers who enjoy a good thriller need to add this film to your watch list. While the film's plot and villain are somewhat basic, there is excellent acting, solid character development and the film making is brilliant. Fans of M.Night Shyamalan will know what to expect and feeling quite content as the credit roll. Peter has written this movie review for Sanity.