Glass

You can get a sequel to one film. Glass is a sequel to two different movies that span several decades and different production companies. Split (2016) and Unbreakable (2000).

David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is the vigilante who plans to catch Kevin Crumb (James McAvoy) the man with multiple personalities including the Beast, who has abducted four cheerleaders. After a showdown both get captured and sent to Raven Hill Memorial hospital which has been adapted to keep them both locked in their rooms.

Also inside the hospital is Mr Glass (Samuel L Jackson) almost comatose filled with drugs and confined to his wheelchair because of his brittle bones. The man who killed hundreds to prove a theory that some people had extraordinary powers. The kind of powers you find in comic books.

Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) has been sent in to show these three people that they are normal people, their abnormal frontal lobes making them think they have superpowers.

M. Night Shyamalan after his initial success with movies like The Sixth Sense and later flops such as The Happening. He went back to basics and re-invented himself through low budget independent horror/thrillers. It culminated in the critically acclaimed Split.

In Glass, Shyamalan pits Dunn against the Beast but it is also a tease. The film is called Glass. Watching and waiting is Elijah Price/Mr Glass. He has woven a web, his body is weak but his mind is sharp. That is his superpower. His past actions has led to the present and he envisages a comic strip superbattle.

Shyamalan has made the movie he wanted to make. The pace is deliberate, it alludes to comic book conventions but without taking the Marvel Films route. I thought it was wonderful even if the movie had faults.

I was completely onboard with Glass for most of the movie, but then it decided to go off the rails. I was invested in the characters and was willing to overlook the clunky exposition and monologuing--until the finale. I feel like M. Night Shyamalan was so determined to surprise the audience that he forgot how to satisfactorily finish a story. To be honest, Glass left me feeling half empty about the whole trilogy.

Good: The acting across the board from the main cast: James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bruce Willis are great. However, like in "Split" McAvoy is definitely the standout portraying so many personalities one after the other is fascinating to watch. Although the setup is great and intriguing, it feels glossed over to get to the main plot. Shyamalan's direction with camera angles and shots also standout and help capture the scenes along with the color scheme as seen in the other movies. I appreciate the overall theme of the movie and the message Shymalan is trying to tell, but suffers in the end and pacing...

Bad: As a film that started off with "Unbreakable" and supposed to be the long awaited sequel to it, Bruce Willis' character does not have much depth and is more on the sidelines. There is a lot of talking and some parts definitely drag making the film feel longer than it actually is, however even with this not much seems to develop and happen.

Overall: The film is getting bashed way too hard by the critics, but overrated by the audience. The film's tone is more like "Unbreakable" than "Split" with more talking and a few action scenes here and there.

3.5/5

Ninteen years ago M. Night Shyamalan made a film called 75 million dollar film Unbreakable when he was hot off the heels of a world wide sensation with The Sixth Sense. The film film did okay money wise (248 million) and with critics but did not generate the excitement of his prior hit but has since garnered a very strong following despite talk of it becoming a trilogy having long gone silent. Fast forward to 2016, Shyamalan after a string of high profile, higher budget flops is now making smaller budget films and gets himself a big hit with the 9 million dollar film Split that goes on to make over 278 million. Not only that, the final post climax scene ties it to the Unbreakable universe, setting up the highly anticipated Glass that will serve to cap the trilogy as a sequel to both Unbreakable and Split.

I am happy to report that despite the massive success of Split that Glass is a low budget film made for just 20 million dollars with a great deal of that presumably going to the larger cast. This film brings together characters from Unbreakable (Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Treat Clark and others) and Split (James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy) with a bevy of new characters. The feeling of comic book mythology that was expertly woven into Unbreakable is back here in spades and this definitely feels more the tone of that film. I won't go into specifics but the story elements of the first half hour feels what someone would typically make as the entire third film in this trilogy but Shyamalan wisely goes into some different territory and we get some great scenes with the characters in a slower paced middle section of the film. Unfortunately not every character really gets to shine here as is common with many team up films each person only has a limited time which makes this film unlike both prior entries really only viewing for people who have seen the others, definitely not a stand alone tale.

They make the most of the limited budget and as is often the case with good film makers, it makes them more creative. It is a nice looking film and well made but I think the abundance of POV shots could have been tempered back a a little. The performances from the many characters were all great but as expected James McAvoy steals the show taking on his role from Split again as the man with 23 different personalities (of which he plays 20 here). There were a few things along the way that seemed like lazy or silly scripting that did get a new light once the final twist was revealed. Speaking of twists, there is more than one and he may have overdone it. I imagine the ending will not be for everyone but I enjoyed the film from start to finish, there was a possibility for a while that it would have made the Kill Bill Vol.2 error of promising a big showdown and not delivering but the route they went in the end worked much better. In the end I am happy with this film despite preferring the previous two entries and it has become quite the trilogy.. one that I will revisit.

This is coming from someone who has been looking forward to this movie for a long time. I thought the acting was fantastic, especially James McAvoy who plays all the personalities fantastically. Bruce Willis doesn't phone it in and actually does a good job. If you're expecting a superhero movie, you're not going to get one. This is most definitely and physcological thriller that happens to have superheroes. This film is filled with incredible memorable moments that you'll certainly remember walking out of the movie. However, the end will turn a lot of people off, as it goes in directions that are very divisive. If you go in with an open mind, I think you'll enjoy most of it.