[Please note: there is a very minor-ish spoiler here, about the setting of the movie.]
A direct sequel to 2016’s Split, and the third in the Unbreakable trilogy directed by M Night Shyamalan, Glass is a 2019 superhero/thriller film. Each reprising their roles from the previous films, David Dunn (Bruce Willis), Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson) and Kevin Wendall Crumb (James McAvoy) are admitted to a psychiatric facility, were Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) attempts to diagnose their belief that they have super human abilities.
+ James McAvoy is once again outstanding as The Horde, particularly when he is ‘Dennis’ or ‘Ms Patricia’. One scene in this film in particular reminded of that phenomenal scene in Split where he ‘becomes’ his various personalities. The acting McAvoy can do with his eyes (as well as, obviously, his facial expressions and body language) is just fantastic
+ Willis (as David Dunn) and Jackson (as Elijah Price, aka Mr Glass) are okay, but frankly both simply pale in comparison to McAvoy. Jackson, in particular is given very little opportunity to do anything exciting, and his major moments are relegated to flashback montages. Willis, meanwhile, has a bit more room to portray himself, but whether due to age or something else, his character never quite reaches the heights from Unbreakable
– Sarah Paulson is essentially a non character as Dr Ellie Staple, and unfortunately, after her fantastic showing in Split, personal favourite Anya Taylor-Joy’s character of Casey Cooke is nothing more than a glorified cameo. After only two other movies it was impressive that so many moving pieces could have had such an impact on each other, but Shyamalan essentially shot himself in the foot
– outside of the first 20 minutes or so, the plot is just boring. Spending 90 per cent of the film in the hospital was disappointing, and not in the ‘subverting superhero movie expectations’ I think Shyamalan was going for. Instead, it just made the existence of super-humans (if that’s what they truly are? YOU DECIDE) feel incredibly small time and unimportant
– in true Shyamalan style, there is a twist ending, and this one is just horrendously bad. Clearly I can’t even go into details, for spoiler reasons, but to think there would be any reason for this story to continue in any meaningful way is just unfounded
> It was pretty cool to see Spencer Treat Clark back as David Dunn’s son, Joseph, after all this time.
Should you see this film: I am really disappointed to say that this was not worth watching. Unbreakable is great for what it was, and if you then watch Split as a separate movie (credits stinger aside), Syamalan can have two really solid entries in his filmography. This one, in attempting to bring them both together, almost retroactively ruins them.
MoshFish Reviews 