Glass (2019) | Film Review

Glass is the convergence of M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016), so if you haven’t seen those two – stop reading this and go check them out. Yes, you will want to see both before you see Glass.

To discuss Glass, we need to recap the prior two installments. In Unbreakable, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) was the sole survivor of a train crash and began realizing his full potential after his identity was made public. After hearing about this strange phenomenon, a weak man obsessed with comic books, Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), searches for Dunn in an effort to explain his unique abilities. He tells David the explanation for his train crash survival is because he is a superhero. When David displays hesitation, Elijah makes it his mission to prove that David is a superhero – even to Joseph Dunn (Spencer Treat Clark), David’s son. In the final moments of the film, it is revealed to Dunn that Elijah made the train crash occur, all in an effort to prove there are superheroes out there, giving Elijah a sense of purpose in life. Dunn had led authorities to Elijah’s comic book store with the proof that he committed three acts of terrorism, institutionalizing him.

Sixteen years later, we hop to what we anticipated being a completely unrelated film, Split. This film was the one that put Shyamalan back on the market as a quality filmmaker, crafting together a modern thriller that brilliantly injected psychology into the mix. James McAvoy’s character, Kevin Crumb, has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder); commonly known as having multiple personalities – 23 of them, to be exact. After kidnapping three young girls for the purpose of feeding them to “The Beast”, Kevin’s personalities begin to show and connect with one of the girls in particular – Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy). Casey is only spared because her stomach showed self-inflicted scars, and flashbacks tell us she was assaulted by her Uncle, therefore she is no longer “impure” in the Beast’s eyes. The purity being referenced is if an individual has suffered, due to Kevin/Dennis/The Beast’s obvious prior experience with trauma. With an absolutely brilliant portrayal of all of the characters we saw, McAvoy utterly stole the show.

In the final scene of Split, a news station is covering the events of Kevin Crumb and the nickname of ‘Horde’ as patrons in a diner watch along and discuss. One of them says how this is “like that crazy guy in a wheelchair that they put away fifteen years ago and they gave him a funny name, too. What was it?” To which David Dunn’s face appears as the camera pans in and he says, “Mr. Glass”. Finally, this brings us around to Glass and how these three relate. Glass has Mr. Glass/Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson) – who actually dresses a little like Prince, David Dunn (Bruce Willis), and Kevin Crumb, The Beast, Dennis, etcetera (James McAvoy) all in the lead here.

Dunn has been spending his time since Unbreakable’s conclusion hunting down those that need to be brought to justice and saving as many as he can, with the help of his now grown son Joseph (still played by Spencer Treat Clark). After news of four young cheerleaders gone missing hits the news, the Dunn men set up a rescue mission. It’s carelessly planned and executed, but hey, whatever works for them. An encounter with one of Kevin’s personalities and David Dunn leads to a battle with The Beast, and a psychologist brings all three of our main trio in for observation and study. Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) says she specializes in those with the delusion they are superheroes and she has three days to convince them they are not. Locked in a facility separate from each other with all of their weaknesses exposed, the three are fighting to figure their way out – and each other – and one of them seems to have a plan of how to make it happen.

The story has a way of working itself out, but there are a couple of moments where you question why something was necessary or even plausible. That’s not to say it isn’t an enjoyable time, but speaking simply on storytelling, the plot should be regenerated or progressing and if it there isn’t a reason for the action, scene, or character choice, there’s no need for it to be there. Doing this would have also helped with the pacing and length of the film, which would have been to its benefit. Glass also seems to rely on a lot of conveniences, which could be the way writer and director Shyamalan wanted the story to unfold, but to audiences it is just chalked up to lazy writing. There were a couple of things that still bother me about the script and seem glaringly obvious to anyone who notices them, but it wasn’t enough to deter me from enjoying the movie.

Thankfully, Glass has a heavy dose of those enjoyable Shyamalan tricks he always seems to have up his sleeve. Regardless of a few total duds – I’m looking at you Lady in the Water – he redeemed himself with Split, and his latest holds its weight against its previous two installments to this trilogy. He makes excellent use of music and sound effects to build tension, to break tension, to grab your attention, and to propel the characters. Shyamalan is talented in the plot twists arena, as well as utilize the available filming space and clever camera techniques. An abundance of close-up shots helps to bring the audience in to the scene with added tension, but one action scene in particular could have benefited from a couple steps back to add realization to the shot of actors.

Samuel L. Jackson does as Sam Jackson does – being the cunningly clever and smart mouthed mastermind he is in everything, while also being able to tame the viewers into questioning which side of Mr. Glass we’re going to get next. This trio pairs together nicely and the convergence is what I was hoping for, but we need to address these criticisms on Bruce Willis. First of all, Bruce Willis is the same Bruce Willis he was in Unbreakable, which is ironically sort of what he’s still like, except in Glass he shows a bit more enthusiasm for his role. The brash ridicule of his performance is quite honestly what makes audiences distrust critics in the first place. He was entertaining, brooding yet funny at times, and could still throw a punch. To hold his own against McAvoy’s Hulk impression says more than I should even have to. He gets the job done and we can enjoy it while he’s doing it, so let the man be Dunn with the criticisms. Get it? Ultimate dad joke.

Now, our Split cast. Anya Taylor-Joy starts off a little questionable but her character, Casey, really wins me back over by the end – even if she has been drinking out of the Stockholm Syndrome bottle. Really what does it here – and would be an average flick without him – is James McAvoy. The way he takes all 23 of his characters and makes them his own, is able to uniquely swap between them in a moment’s pause, and imprisons the audience in his nuanced world is what makes him one of the most fascinating actors of his time. Embarking on something this diverse and extreme in terms of variations of characters is not only challenging and time-consuming, but often becomes too dramatized, and McAvoy never allows that to happen. He is Kevin, now he is Dennis, then he is Patricia. With credit to Shyamalan for appropriately showcasing his talent but not allowing the camera to cut or pan during his exchange of characters and banter, McAvoy’s performance in Glass is an achievement and eye-opening.

The conclusion to this trilogy is going to be the largest discussion piece, as it usually is for Shyamalan flicks, and although the last 20 minutes are a different vibe than what the previous two hours holds, it’s still a worthwhile investment. While Glass doesn’t shatter the rankings against Split, it certainly holds a mirror to it in terms of storytelling and performances. Unbreakable appears to be the weakest link of them all, which is great since it’s still an enjoyable re-watch. But the game-changer for Glass genuinely seems to be all that McAvoy brings to the screen.