Glass (2019) Review

In 2000, M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to his huge hit, The Sixth Sense, called Unbreakable was released to a mixed reception but has since grown a little cult following. Fast forward to 2016 where he releases Split which was considered a return to form for him. However, people's minds were blown when it was revealed to be in the same universe as Unbreakable. Thus a trilogy was born by bringing together these two seemingly standalone movies and one anticipated movie to tie it all up.

David Dunn (The Overseer) and Kevin Wendell Crumb (The Horde) are placed in a mental institution which contains Elijah Price (Mr.Glass), too. A doctor named Ellie Staple attempts to dissolve their "delusions" that they have superpowers, and what they achieved and survived was just a bunch of lucky coincidences. For years, Mr. Glass has been acting lifeless until he becomes intrigued by Kevin, but mostly The Beast. They team together and challenge David in a supposedly epic battle from the trailers. But does it deliver?

To start things off, I really enjoyed Unbreakable with its different play on comic book heroes and villains. Even with its slow pace, I was invested in it and got the chills as it went on to the very end. I wasn't so enthusiastic about Split due to all the Shyamalanisms present from the weird dialogue to the strange, awkward acting, but the best part of it was James McAvoy, doing all these different personalities so well. And with Glass, they mesh the styles of both movies.

Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and McAvoy return, of course, but there are some things people might not expect like the title character isn't in the movie that much and becomes more involved in the third act. Bruce Willis recently hasn't been making any good movie choices and doesn't seem to care, but in this movie, I feel he does better in the slightest hint. So, once again, McAvoy takes the cake as the standout as he brings out more personalities whenever a light machine goes off when he tries to retaliate. Other cast members return like Spencer Treat Clarke, all grown up, as David's son, Joseph (a real treat I say) and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke who attempts to help Kevin find himself again and take control. I wasn't into Taylor-Joy in Split because of her performance and mishandled backstory, but in Glass, she felt more natural and had me engaged in her arc. I love how often Kevin talks to Casey as Hedwig. It's very cute. Also, I love how Shyamalan reprises his cameo from Unbreakable, claiming he's turned away from selling drugs.

As for new faces, Sarah Paulson plays Dr. Ellie Staple. She gets to partake in Shyamalan's trademark of talking to the camera as another character's POV. She comes across as very uneasy and I believed it was intentional after watching the whole movie.

From the start, I thought this movie wouldn't be good from all the idiosyncrasies the director was known for, but it picked up speed when David and Kevin get taken into the mental institution to join Mr. Glass. From there, it becomes interesting as Dr. Staple makes the two question the reality they believe in and their so-called abilities based on comic books. It also has those funny moments where you're not sure if it was intentional or not but you just accept it. So this movie had me until the culmination which I don't think payoffs fully. I felt like Shyamalan was feeling a lot of pride from his title as the twist guy. So much so that he believed he could give the granddaddy of all twists and make the audiences' heads spin. Initially, the first twist wasn't too bad. It connects to Unbreakable and it provided an answer to a thought people had concerning Kevin's past. But then, the movie just goes on and on, trying to throw shocking revelation after shocking revelation. Between the whole climax and the theater sound system sounding distorted, it was becoming tiresome.

In the end, I didn't think it was one of Shyamalan's worst films, but it didn't exactly deliver a good, exciting payoff to the previous two movies. The first two acts and some of the actors made it a worthwhile experience for me. Like the director's other movies, both good and bad, I feel like it would have its share of people analyzing it and others criticizing and making fun of it. So I would like to hear how people reacted to this, whether they walked out feeling satisfied and provoked, or walked out and screamed in frustration like Dr. Staple in one scene.

RATING: MODEST APPROVAL (B-)