Glass

Reviews from the Dark Side
Glass
Released 1/18/19

The culmination of a trilogy 18 years in the making has arrived with M. Night Shyamalan's, Glass.  This unorthodox superhero series has examined the real world possibilities of superhuman existence without the capes, shields, hammers, lassos, web shooters, and batarangs that we know and love.  While I, personally, loved the first two installments, 2000's Unbreakable and 2017's Split, neither was met with overwhelming critical acclaim.  And, early critical returns on Glass have been less than kind.  So, could Shyamalan, who has had issues with fans and critics alike on several past projects, have erred this badly with the last chapter?

Before I get into that, in typical Shymalan fashion, it's almost impossible to describe the plot of this film without giving away the "gotcha" twists the director has become known for.  Taking place a few weeks after the events of Split, Kevin Crumb (James McAvoy), aka The Horde, is up to his old trick of capturing young girls to sacrifice to the most dangerous of his many personalities, The Beast.  Working with his now adult son, David Dunn (Bruce Willis), locates and does battle with The Beast.  When the fight spills into the streets of Philadelphia, both men are taken into custody and transported to a mental institution run by Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson).  Unfortunately for David, one of the residents there is Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), the highly intelligent mass murdering comic book theorist, Mr. Glass.  Glass isn't in great shape as he's been heavily sedated for an extended period of time.  It's Dr. Staple's goal to convince her three charges that superheroes don't exist and there is nothing extraordinary about them except for severe mental disorders.

That's the most I can say without revealing major plot points.  Let's just say there's more than one endgame at play here.  And anyone who says they knew where this was going after watching it, probably isn't telling the truth.  There are high stakes involved and even the minor characters of Elijah's mother, David's son, and Kevin's "friend" (Anya Taylor-Joy), the surviving abductee of Split, have parts to play in this tale.

Glass has the same melancholy tone and foreboding nature of the previous entries.  I wasn't as fond of it as I was Unbreakable.  I might not even have enjoyed it as much as Split, but, I did like this a great deal.  It was a fitting end to the director's super powers saga (or is it a beginning?).  In any case the door is open to pursue the narrative further if Shyamalan is so inclined.

I would be remiss if I didn't note one other item.  While all the performances were more than adequate, the standout again was James McAvoy.  The actor pulled off at least 10 distinct personalities for the deeply troubled Kevin Crumb ranging from the comic to the grotesque.  It was an amazing performance from an extremely skilled performer.

And, what of the movie's namesake?  Jackson is even more beguiling in the sinister manner he was in Unbreakable.  However, this time he has full license to explore the true nature of his character from the time his character appears onscreen.  Even when he's seen as being in little more than a vegetative state, you can still see the evil intent behind those eyes.

The one standout weakness of the film is that while the performances were fine, no one was particularly interesting outside of the three featured characters.  Whenever the story switched from this thread of the story, my interest waned slightly.  Luckily, these asides didn't last a great deal of time before the film was back on track.

For fans of Unbreakable and Split, Glass will go down smoothly for you.  The Shyamalan twists are big and unexpected.  It's an end and a possible beginning.  But, most of all, it's a worthy beginning to 2019.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

*** 3/4 stars

0*= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Worth a look.  Better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. I'm doing my happy dance!
5 *= Pure eye candy. I have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good