Glass (2019) Review!!

Synopsis – Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities.

My Take – Upon release back in 2000, Unbreakable, director M. Night Shyamalan‘s follow up to the massively successful, The Sixth Sense, had quite a mixed reception. While the film did end up earning $248 million worldwide, the film ended up being misunderstood for its theme and criticized for its pacing especially considering at that time when films with superhero tones where more colorful, spandex filled and more family oriented. In contrast, director Shyamalan‘s film told a superhero story in a more realistic and psychological way.

Despite delving itself into super-power lore, the film was more of a psychological thriller rather than an expected action film, as a result the film was considered a disappointment. While the film ended up garnering a very strong following, its expected sequel never received the green light, and considering how director Shyamalan found himself helming a string of big budget flops (Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender, After Earth), all talk of a possible trilogy ended.

However, bouncing back with found footage hit, The Visit, in 2015, director Shyamalan found himself directing the 2016 film, Split, a psychological horror thriller film, which ended up grossing $278 million (on a budget of $9 million). A major reason for the success (among many other things) was the Shyamalan twist at the climax – the appearance of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the lead from Unbreakable at the end of the film, hereby signaling the film to be kind of backdoor sequel which no one saw coming, considering that there weren’t any indications that the two films existed in the same cinematic universe.

Now three years later, director Shyamalan is back to bring the highly anticipated end of Eastrail 177 Trilogy, in a film that acts both as sequel to Unbreakable and Split. Bringing back together characters from Unbreakable (Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Treat Clark and Charlayne Woodard) and Split (James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy) along with a bevy of new characters.

While the critical reviews have been mainly on the negative side, I personally appreciated director Shyamalan’s vision and bravery to try out a unique perspective. Sure, the mid-sized feature with big ambitions, feels fractured when it boxes its story, images and characters into its primary setting. Yet each individual piece, each main player, still pierces the surface enough to make enough impact.

Yes, there are probably a number of ways director Shyamalan could have made this film even better, but considering the uniqueness with how he ties up the story to the weirdest superhero trilogy in the history of cinema, it definitely deserves commendation. And it is undeniably advisable to watch the aforementioned film to understand and appreciate this thriller.

Set nineteen years after the events of Unbreakable and three weeks after the events of Split, the story follows David Dunn (Bruce Willis), who is now running a home security company with his now adult son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), but is still very active as a vigilante fighting crime and has become an online sensation known as the Overseer or the Green Guard after the color of his poncho. Actively tracking down Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), whose alter ego, the seemingly superhuman known as the Beast, who joins with the other 22 personalities to form the mighty force called the Horde, as he has once again abducted some schoolgirls.

After rescuing the girls from an abandoned building, David finds himself battling the Beast, which results in finding themselves remanded by police authorities and send to an insane asylum under the guidance of Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson). Also residing in the same asylum is Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) aka Mr. Glass, a highly intelligent mass murderer and comic book theorist with Type I osteogenesis imperfecta who was institutionalized after Dunn discovered the extent of his crimes. The trio’s new doctor has only one mission in mind i.e. to convince all three of them that they are all suffering from a specific type of delusion of grandeur, in the sense they are not the superheroes and supervillains as much as they or their closes ones might like to believe otherwise.

Just like the previous two films, you will have your doubts and theories but in the end it all ends up going in another direction and then another one. The most interesting part here is that in Unbreakable and Split, these two films are arguably in small scale and they spent lots of time in an intimate atmosphere where audience get to learn about these characters. And moving to this 2019 release, this film scale indeed grows bigger given its idea. It is no longer a story about just these three characters; it is also about how their existence will influence the society, just like Mr. Glass’s quote in the trailer: “I’ve been waiting for the world to see that we exist.”

The overall result of this ambitious project is bound to infuriate many, considering how the 129 minute long film keeps its straight about the nature of comic-book heroism and the world’s seemingly unending fascination with champions. Yet considering director Shyamalan’s overreach, the realism is admirable. Here, director Shyamalan tries his best to keep the film closer to real life than to fiction by essentially eliminating special effects or any kind of CGI. Keeping a steady pace from the opening scenes until the credits, he fills the film with clever dialogues that bridge the gap between the three films and adds gritty action to keep the audience engaged.

At first, the film plays a little more like Unbreakable. It tries to stay as down-to-earth as possible, with Dr. Staple claiming there are perfectly rational explanations for David’s and Kevin’s feats of strength and Elijah’s murderous tendencies, all stemming from violence the men suffered as children. However, the film works best when it embraces the zanier tone of Split, which was dominated by a vamping McAvoy shuffling among a dozen identities (including a preening schoolmarm, a petulant child, and a raging animal) in one body: Crumb’s next chapter, including the return of plucky Split survivor Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy). This is a film where Elijah can introduce himself by intoning “First name Mister. Last name Glass,” and simultaneously earn a laugh and a gasp.

It’s a film that expects you to understand the intricacies of Kevin’s condition, but also features a comic-book salesman who patiently explains to the audience that superheroes were largely invented with the release of Superman’s Action Comics in 1938. This film is patronizing and broad while also feeling knotty and philosophical.

So why did I enjoy it so much? For one thing, I appreciate the sheer brashness of director Shyamalan’s storytelling, which swirls the mythos inherent in characters such as David with the emotional scars borne by orphaned characters such as Superman. This is director Shyamalan taking up that mantle and coming away with the observation that, though these heroes might be broken, they’re also singular.

The director clearly sees them as objects of daily fascination for a country looking to escape the mundane wherever it can; he’s just trying to understand why. Now, some people may argue that the second part of the film is slow. However, having slow-pacing does not necessarily mean this film is dragging because it is necessary to focus on psychological thriller element.

Unfortunately not every character really gets to shine here, especially Bruce Willis’s David Dunn, whose development seemed kind of pales in comparison. Despite his supposedly important role in this film, He feels like a side-line character and does not even have that many important dialogues. A decision probably taken partly due to the unexpected direction the story takes in the final half.

Finally coming to the final act of the film, I found it to be quite different. Director Shyamalan’s biggest strength and weakness at the same time has been the Twilight Zone–style trick ending that has worked both wonders as well have been horrendous at the same time (remember the ending of The Happening?). While I personally felt that the film could have gone in a different direction that the one he ended up choosing, I can understand why he went for it. While certain people will be disappointed, it also opens up a new channel of similarly themed comic-book epics.

The performances here also quite good. Samuel L. Jackson is his awesome self, sporting the best costuming and buzzing with the sly mood that defines his character. A true villain who is always one step ahead. However, he is outshone by James McAvoy, who once again showcases his multiple personalities perfectly, hence proving once again how underrated McAvoy has been.

Despite his limited scope, Bruce Willis is effective as the stoic, sensitive and haunted hero. Sarah Paulson brings her new character a surprising nuance which captures the mood of the film. In supporting roles, Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark and Charlayne Woodard also deserve appreciation for their performances, even if they don’t have that much impact in the overall story-line than acting as a connective tissue to the other films. On the whole, ‘Glass’ is a divisive yet intriguing end to an unconventional superhero trilogy.