A Reel Review: GLASS

Twelve years before cinema saw the Avengers assemble, and eight years before a Joker won an Oscar, writer and director M. Night Shyamalan made one of the grandest, if not the grandest statements on superheroes and their villains with his 2000 film UNBREAKABLE. It was a grounded superhero film that wasn’t really a superhero film as we expect them today, as the story spent more time deconstructing heroes and villains than having them slug it out over world-wide stakes. M. Night’s 2016 film SPLIT served as a sneaky, back-door sequel, and here in 2019, he caps off his sudden trilogy with GLASS. 

Nineteen years after the events of UNBREAKABLE, strongman David Dunn (Bruce Willis), gets locked into a mental hospital with his rival, mastermind Elijah (Samuel L. Jackson), and Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), who is also known as The Horde because of his 23 different personalities…with a terrifying 24^th known as The Beast. In the hospital, the three are poked and prodded by Dr. Staple (Sarah Paulson), who tries to convince the three that they don’t really have super abilities. 

The early goings of GLASS are spent catching us up with our characters from UNBREAKABLE and SPLIT. Dunn is now a widow but has a successful home-security business he runs with his son Joseph (reprised by Spencer Treat Clark), and he has spent the last 19 years using his abilities to clean up the streets of Philadelphia. Kevin/The Horde in the meantime is still kidnapping and terrifying girls, while the lone survivor from SPLIT (reprised by Ana Taylor-Joy), is still dealing with the trauma of her encounter with The Beast. Meanwhile, Elijah, calling himself Mr. Glass, is in a near catatonic state in the hospital. 

Once the catching up is done and the three find themselves together in close quarters, GLASS slips back into the shoes of UNBREAKABLE. That film was a breakdown and examination of the elements of superheroes, and GLASS picks up that idea and runs with it. Only this time, Dr. Staple is out to convince them (and us), that super-abilities really don’t exist, and her methods are very convincing to all and has everyone second-guessing what we thought we knew about every character and what they can do. 

Similar to UNBREAKABLE, GLASS isn’t really a superhero movie as much as it is a story about superheroes. M. Night takes the familiar tropes from comic book storytelling and presents them in a grounded fashion that makes it familiar, but fresh. Familiar character archetypes such as the moral leader, the anarchist, and the mastermind are explored in real-world ways, and just for good measure a new, larger element is introduced as one of the three (!) twists near the end. For comic book fans and for those of us who have never stepped foot in a comic-con, there’s a lot to digest, learn, and enjoy. 

There’s a fair amount of action and tension, and the eventual fight scenes are very well done. The script has a bit of clumsiness here and there, as the momentum is often stopped dead in its tracks for a character to literally explain to the audience what part of a comic book tale we’re now seeing. There’s a lot of telling instead of showing and a lot of exposition and explanations feel overdone. 

Acting is quite good. Bruce Willis plays David as a little stoic but there’s something about seeing him back in his green poncho defying the strength of steel that is a joy. Samuel L. Jackson steps back into the chair of Mr. Glass with ease, and Sarah Paulson is chilling from start to finish. Ana Taylor-Joy is a wonderful actress, but her character is an odd one as she feels extraneous until the end, and her motivations for wanting to be involved with The Beast again aren’t very clear. The film is owned by James McAvoy, who literally plays 23 different characters in the film, some of them within seconds of each other, and his physical performance is stunning. 

Since this is an M. Night film, we expect a twist, and we get that and more with a lot of surprises coming in the last half hour. The film feels a bit anti-climactic, as the final showdown is followed-up by several different endings to wrap things up…and again it feels like over-explaining. But by the closing minutes, a wonderful loop-back to UNBREAKABLE happens which closes out one character’s goal in spectacular fashion, and M. Night delivers a wrap that is proper and satisfying. GLASS has its cracks, but it’s strong enough to not break. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it