I personally know that Multiple Personality Disorder is a horrible mental illness, as I have a step brother who I love dearly who is bi-polar and have also dated a lady is bi-polar. It is horrible illness that causes totally different people mentally within the same person physically, which requires patience and understanding.
Dealing with this subject matter is “Split,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, Unbreakable) and starring James McAvoy ((X-Men: First class, Wanted), Anya Taylor-Joy (Morgan, The Witch), Haley Lu Richardson (The Last Survivors, Follow), Jessica Sula (Skins, Honeytrap), and Betty Buckley (Carrie, Frantic). The story centers around Casey (Taylor Joy) and her two friends, Claire (Richardson) and Marcia (Sula), who are abducted by Dennis (McAvoy) outside of a shopping mall and locked up in an unknown location which looks like a basement or bunker. As time goes on, they start to realize that Dennis has about twenty-three different personalities, which Casey tries to learn the differences between to find the ones she can trust in order to convince Dennis to set her and her friends free. At the same time, Dennis visits his psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Buckley), on a regular basis, who is trying to help Dennis deal with his disorder.
The look of the lighting, along with the sets really set a good ambiance for the mood that the film requires. When it came to the acting, McAvoy did an incredible job, being able to instantly change from one personality to another in a split second (pun intended), and did it incredibly. Watching him, I felt that he literally played about 10 different roles, and did each one well to the point that if this film had an earlier release date, he could have had some Best Actor nominations for 2016. Taylor-Joy also did well in playing the cool, calm, and collected person without being a helpless victim, trying to outsmart her captor. There was great chemistry between McAvoy and Taylor-Joy as well as the rest of the cast.
When it comes to the plot and storyline, it was good. I know Shyamalan has had some issues with past films, but he is starting to redeem himself with “Split”. The film is about 2 hours long, which may have been a little long by about ten minutes, but not bad. Overall the plot flowed well and kept me intrigued, with some intense moments that kept me on the edge of my seat and at the same moments that actually made me laugh. Due to the subject matter, this film may definitely not be for everyone, but if you like films that keep you on your toes and make you nervous, this is a good film for you. I will recommend this film as a twilight to matinee showing at the theater.