[Confession] SPLIT
When I knew SPLIT was going to be about a man who has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), I immediately thought of Kill Me, Heal Me (one of my faves, btw) and was so excited to see it as I a am a fan of physiological thrillers and I was also very curious how a man could act 24 different personalities! And that, ladies and gentlemen, how SPLIT made it on my watch list. Let's how well it did.
Here is the synopsis of the movie:
When three girls are kidnapped by a man with 23 different personalities they have to work out which of those personalities will help them escape and which of those personalities will try to stop them.
This movie couldn't have worked without James McAvoy. He has given his best performance in his whole career and stands out as one of the reasons to watch this movie. The cliché points in the movie are watchable just because of his phenomenal performance. His transition from a 'Norman Bates' type woman Patrica to a 9 year old boy Hedwig to other personalities are amazing. In terms of acting-wise, James McAvoy got me hands down.
Secondly, I didn't know this was a sci-fi movie? I mean, yes, I loved the whole premise of mind disorders and how complex it was to have 24 different personalities, it was tragic and at the same time it was based on a true person which you can read here, BUT (that's a big but lol), the ending was just too fictional to be true. I thought it became X-Menish at the end.
And I did watch this with expectations though. Plot-wise, it wasn't that wise. It lacks backbone. It doesn't explain thoroughly how and why things happen. An example would be how Kevin got his personalities - it did show his childhood trauma and slight therapy session stories but it doesn't equate to how he got all his personalities. Another would be the girls. Were they kidnapped randomly or do these girls have something that Kevin looks for? It's just like how Christian Grey looks for brunette hair in girls. These small stories build up Kevin and greatly affects how each personality slowly eats him up. Not only it lacks plot closure, it has numerous plot holes as well. That's why I was disappointed. And don't get me started on the supposedly 24 different personalities when I only saw 8 and the rest were hidden on a desktop computer.
Lastly, Split isn't scary, it's tense. This movie shouldn't have been given a "horror" tag. A "psychological thriller" sounds better. But really, James McAvoy is the guy you shouldn't miss here!
My Rating:
Plot: 6.0/10
Acting: 8.4/10
Cinematography: 8.0/10
Characters: 6.0/10
Uniqueness: 6.0/10
OVERALL RATING: 6.8