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After three girls are kidnapped by a man with 24 distinct personalities they must find some of the different personalities that can help them while running away and staying alive from the others.
One can imagine that having to jump into a character is challenging for an actor. You have to learn that character’s history, their quirks, their accent, how they talk, how they dress, what they would do, etc. Imagine how challenging learning 24 different characters would be and add on top of that, having to switch between them in an instant or having to act as one character all while posing as another. That ordeal can get really complex really quickly but “Split” holds this idea at its core, the idea of a man having 24 distinct personalities and how those personalities come to light and how they coexist. James McAvoy is the perfect vessel for the multitude of characters that lie within James’s actual character, Kevin.
Kevin has Dissociative Identity Disorder, a condition that causes him to lose control of his consciousness to one of the 24 identities living within him. The most prevalent of the 24 identities in “Split” are that of Dennis, Patricia, Hedwig, Barry, and The Beast. Dennis, an identity compelled to provide perfection and cleanliness, is the one that kidnaps Casey, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, Marcia, and Claire. This begins the culmination of the three girls meeting The Beast, an identity that is hidden descriptively for most of the film. While the roles of Marcia and Claire seem to be just thrown in to heighten the backstory of Casey and her sensibility, they do provide for gory fun towards the end. Anya does a good job playing Casey, and in relation, the stark contrast of Kevin and “The Horde,” as they are called in the film, though the viewer will find that the two are more similar than one would think.
As far as the story goes, it is one that hasn’t been done a lot and seems unique and intuitive and for those who are keen on the film, it provides a high level of re-watchability. The level of detail within each character that McAvoy plays is astounding and that alone would be grounds for a second viewing. There is even a point where Dennis, Kevin’s cold, calculated identity, imitates another identity to stave off inquiry from their therapist and while you can see Dennis through his fake persona, you can also understand that the character was constructed that way, the scene was constructed that way, and McAvoy’s ability to play Kevin who has lost control to Dennis, who is imitating as Barry, yet Dennis still overtakes Barry in microscopic ways, all of that is astounding and screams high quality acting.
“Split” is a creative film that not only deals with a real issue, but does so in a fascinating and thrilling way that will captivate theater audiences.
In theaters Friday, January 20th
