Funny Unintentionnaly but still solid/good! 8/10.

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2017)

Hey there !
Just saw this tonight, and let me say, I am speechless, I don't know how to say it... truthfully I have difficulty sizing this film and I don't mean it in the wrong way; it has great potential and production quality. James McAvoy (if it could be anybody, he can do it better than any actor) is absolutely brilliant as the utterly insane madman with 25 split personalities - he's just outstanding in his shifting multi-layered multi-personalities TDI display : he evens plays a woman, he plays a 9 year old, he plays a killer abudctor, he plays a homosexual man, he plays 'the beast' (an enraged Hulk monster), etc... with brio and clear distinction...This is both good and bad (only for me)...I will try to explain : this film wants to be very 'serious' and about split personality people and self-mutilating people who suffer from serious mental problems. The problem is when he shifts to another 'persona/character' mid conversation...it may seem a bit jarring (for me it was a little) or let's say it made me laugh so much !!! Very Unintentionally ! (I feel guilty about it), Here is the movie trying to be Very serious about 3 young teenager ladies who are abducted by a crazy psycho murderer with dozens of personalities and brought into his psycho lair...and I'm laughing non-stop at the ridiculness of the 'different 'wacky' personalities' (more wacky/funny than psychotic)...I felt bad because there were very tense and scary moments where you feel sad/scared for the young girls who are terrified and trapped.... but then...Mr.McAvoy comes in the room and makes a big fool of himself with ultra-funny (unintentionnaly) performances of a 9 year old, of a very tender woman and then switches to a extravagant homosexual man...etc...huh!!??? lol..then...he switches to a Super Mean Killer Face... LOL...Oh that must be the Killer Personality Deciding to Come Out ! Lol (I'm really not laughing at him/or the movie, it's great quality with incredible performances of everyones including Mr.McAvoy's old lady shrink..just 'the unintentional effect' of his facial personality performances)....a nd there the young girls stare at him in utter fright (veryyy seriousss) while I'm literally cracked up laughing inside (lol)...(not at the girls' sad plight...but at the Multi-personality split personality performances of abductor Mr.McAvoy). The point I'm trying to say is this film is truly great but the unintentional effect of shifting personalities renders it 'funny' (in some points) rather than serious. Because Mr.McAvoy is so good at it he displays tons of slightly shifting nuances in his faces (crooked eyebrows/arched muscles/tons of expressions..) but it's also quite awkward (again it makes you laugh! sometimes it's slighty cringe-worthy), the film wants to be Extra-Serious, but because of that, it becomes tame and even funny (sadly unintentionnaly because of the 'comic' relief in the 'comical' personality he acts with the other 'dark' ones...I mean it's a grown man playing a 9 year old extremely well..but you know...it's an Adult Man..and he's playing a cute funny innocent 9 year old..yeah it will be awkward and end up funny/ridiculous rather than 'serious tone'). The main teenager woman in this film is Truly great, she is an upcoming actress with incredible potential (actress Anya-Taylor Joy, she played the young teenager blond in the great horror film 'The Witch (2016)', she is the brightest in the bunch/the most serious (she was a child that was molested (we see flashbacks of her past) and became a 'rebel recluse self-mutilating teenager' and will be the only one who survives), the film doesn't 'end' per say and Mr.McAvoy is not killed he survives two shotgun blasts from her (as the beast personality he comes a Hulk and his veins pop, he can literally split a metal bar in two), the film ends with cameo from Bruce Willis as Dunn his former psychotic/asylum caregiver...we understand Bruce Willis and Mr.McAvoy will come back in Split 2.
All in all very awkwardly surprised (if I want to good laughing psychosis therapy by Mr.McAvoy it does well, Mr. M.Night Shyamalan (the director) is truly something and keeps on creating very special and different films), stil don't let my weird review put it down, it is a definitely a good film nonetheless : 8 out of 10.