Stellar acting can't save everything

Rating: 7/10 (24 October 2019)

I remember a few years back, when the film garnered important media attention, namely because of McAvoy's supposedly outstanding performance. In my mind, this somehow placed the movie in the "good flicks" category, and I've been eager to watch it ever since.
First off, yes, McAvoy is stellar. The virtuosity required to switch so smoothly from a character to another is astounding. His voice work, his perfectly controlled mimics and quirks... This is great acting in the making. And yet, the movie is not great. A good entertainment, sure, but not great.
An hour in, the writing starts feeling clunky, increasing the film's overall lack of focus. What is this movie about? Is it about MacAvoy's DID condition? Is it about Anya Taylor-Joy's childhood trauma? Her fantastic acting can't hide what might be an unfortunately shallow part and uninspired directing/staging. Betty Buckley feels very much like a tool of the plot, only present for some "exposition writing". Same for the 2 other girls, that were close to useless. The hunting scenes in the wood/animal metaphor was too loosely connected, making the reveal of the location more surprising than shocking. Too many things felt forced, and the whole mystery and excitement surrounding the film was shot down by details and explanations that should have been dropped out.
Compared to what I consider to be better movies (ex. 10th Cloverfield Lane, Identity), the film is too spread out. The scenario dilutes the actors' awesome performance and characters potential, and gives a movie that could have been so much more with so much less.