Split

M. Night Shyamalan and I have a tricky relationship... Like most people I thoroughly enjoyed The Sixth Sense, despaired of Signs and vowed never to watch another of his films after the truly awful The Village.

Having seen and been quite impressed by the trailer for Split, I decided to give Shyamalan one final, final chance and I was not disappointed.

The story begins with a birthday party and focuses on three girls, popular best friends Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula), and introverted outsider Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy). Waiting for Claire's father to give them a lift home, they are abducted by Kevin (James McAvoy) where they are held hostage in a labyrinth-type underground lair.

After a while we meet the OCD-afflicted Dennis and the very prim, English accented Miss Patricia who are two of Kevin's 23 separate personalities. We then meet Hedwig, who is a nine-year old precocious Kanye West fan. This is where Casey sees an opportunity to find out more about what is going on and is the only person who tries to connect with one of the personalities. Through this, she finds out about 'The Beast' who is a 24th personality that requires 'untouched flesh' to feast upon and this is who the three girls are being offered up as a sacrifice to.

In the midst of all this are the daily therapy sessions that Barry (another personality), a New York fashionista has with psychologist Dr Fletcher (Betty Buckley). A leading researcher in the field of dissociative identity disorder, she believes that the disorder is a reflection of the brain’s vast superhuman potential rather than a disability. Although she raises some concerns about the more dominant personalities overtaking the 'good' personalities, she chooses to believe Barry when he says that everything is fine. 

There are regular flashbacks to a very young Casey that help explain why she is such an introverted outsider involving her relationship with her uncle which links in very well to the appearance of 'The Beast'.

I appreciate that I'm not giving too much away here, but the twists are good and I would hate to ruin it for anybody.

McAvoy is superb in this tricky role; a less talented and engaging actor would have really struggled with the many distinct personalities required and he performs the task with great aplomb. Taylor-Joy also deserves a lot of credit for her performance where she held her own against McAvoy and demonstrated a quiet strength that is gratifying to see in a lead female role. Buckley was excellent as sympathetic and understanding Dr Fletcher, which gave some balance to the film. 

Unfortunately Richardson and Sula were only there as token shrieking teens which is a real shame as I'm sure there could have been more done with their roles. 

The film has lots of twists, including one at the very end, which the more devoted and knowledgeable Shyamalan fans will enjoy and zips along very nicely with a near constant level of suspense throughout. There were some clunky moments here and there, but they are quickly forgiven. 

Verdict: An excellent return to form by Shyamalan aided by a tight script and a brilliant, brilliant performance by McAvoy. If you like a quick-paced, head-scratching thriller, then you will not be disappointed at all with Split.