Film: Glass
Starring: Bruce Willis, James Mcavoy, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor Joy, Spencer Treat Clark
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Review: Klep Napier & Wade Swift
Rating: 3X's out of 5X's
The trilogy no one expected finally comes full circle with M. Night Shyamalan’s highly anticipated third installment to ‘Unbreakable’ and ‘Split’. #Glass picks up where #Split left us. This time following three individuals who believe that they are burdened with superhuman abilities, the trio are finally met face to face after vigilante David “The Overseer” Dunn [Willis] attempts to rescue more abducted teens from the hands of “The Beast” [Mcavoy]. Both are captured and locked in a mental institution where the two are challenged by a mysterious woman, Dr. Ellie Staple [Paulson], who seems to know everything about them. Including about their “abilities”. It is then revealed that they’re also confined along with Elijah “Mr. Glass” Price, someone David Dunn [Willis] is oh so familiar with. Dr. Staple believes that these delusions of grandeur are all in their heads and has brought them there to convince them that they are nothing more then a few human beings suffering from past trauma. Ok, I will stop there and say that this whole thing has been leading up to this. 19 years in the making. The set up is brilliant, the storyline, brilliant but what you get with Glass is nothing more than a Split 1.5. Simply put, Mcavoy steals the show. And where the title leads us to believe that this is Mr. Glass’ time to shine, the film is everything but that. Don’t get me wrong the ensemble plays well, but the pace is dry without ‘the horde’ of personality changes by Mcavoy. He steals the show and honestly saves this film. Some wins we will mention, other than the psyche behind comic books and how it relates to the history of man, are the returning cast members from the previous films. #SpencerTreatClark returning as Joseph Dunn who more than delivers as the son of David and was a nice touch of nostalgia given this whole thing started with ‘Unbreakable’ 19 years ago. #AnyaTaylorJoy returns as ‘Casey Cooke’ from ‘Split’, but she is no victim this time around. She really displays growth and purpose in Glass and her dynamic is one to appreciate. Shyamalan has created a cohesive universe but where there are wins the are certainly major losses, for example. The film drags us along for two hours only to inevitably drop us off nowhere. If you are not a fan of the first two films or haven’t even caught up on them then you may want to get caught up or skip this one because sorry folks, Glass is strictly for the invested individual. It plays very close to the chest with call backs and references that you'll need to follow along with. Other minor concerns would be the overall production value. The out of pocket budget from the Director shows very clearly. Makeup, and CGI suffer in this department. Overall the film was executed well and does bring clarity to some of the characters, however we really wish the climax could’ve gone as planned. It was recently stated by Samuel L Jackson that the original ending needed to be changed due to today’s social climate. Maybe then we would’ve had a better outlook on this film, and maybe the finale we deserved. As fans of this universe we really wanted to love it, but in the end it falls short and leaves us wondering what could've been. Our advice, go into this film with mild expectations.
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