10 Actors Who Reclaimed Some Dignity In 2017

Where It All Went Wrong: Victor Frankenstein, X-Men: Apocalypse

The Redeeming Movie(s): Split, Atomic Blonde

James McAvoy is a solid actor, though he very rarely finds his way into solid motion pictures. The last few years have given us turgid flops like Victor Frankenstein (argh!) and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (oof!), not to mention the disappointing sequel that was X-Men: Apocalypse. Not worth your time, that one.

McAvoy has struggled to carve out a place for himself in the current cinematic climate; is he a leading man, or is he better placed as quirky, supporting characters? This indecision has resulted in a lot of forgettable fare. It's hard to recall the glory days of movies like Starter for Ten and Atonement, where McAvoy was on top.

This year, though, McAvoy gave a truck load of performances all in one, starring as a psychopath with 23 personalities in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, an actually good horror yarn. Yes, Shyamalan somehow managed to make a good film in 2017, and McAvoy is a huge part of why that ended up being the case. For the actor, it was a super impressive showcase of talent, made better because it was so unexpected.

As if that wasn't enough of a flare move for McAvoy to reignite himself on the silver screen, however, he also gave a brilliant performance opposite Charlize Theron in the adaptation of comic Atomic Blonde, playing a spy type who could have been entirely irksome in his constant switching of allegiances but emerged as a rather entertaining character instead - one you didn't know whether to love or hate.

All that to say, McAvoy is back on track, and it's a trend that looks set to continue by way of the Split/Unbreakable sequel Glass, due for release in 2019.