It's
been 19 years since M. Night Shyamalan wowed us with Unbreakable,
his gritty take on the superhero
film that introduced us to the fascinating characters David Dunn
(Bruce Willis) and Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), now better know
as the eponymous Mr. Glass. Finally the third installment to this surprise trilogy is here to tie together the events of Unbreakable
and Split and
provide what the trailers promised to be a showdown of epic scale.
The
film gets off to a strong start with David, still moonlighting as a
vigilante, searching for Kevin Wendell Crumb who has now been
nicknamed 'The Horde' by the media. They are however both apprehended
by the police and taken to a psychiatric hospital where Dr. Ellie
Staple (Sarah Paulson) seeks to convince them that their belief in
their abilities is the result of a mental illness and to cure them of
this delusion. As with Unbreakable, there
is a slow build-up to the action in this film and the focus for the
first half remains on the three lead characters. Bruce Willis and
Samuel L. Jackson are as compelling as ever in their roles, and James
McAvoy is even better than he was in Split. Whilst
we only saw a few of Kevin's 23 personalities in the original film,
Glass introduces us to
many more and this really showcases McAvoy's versatility as an actor;
it's highly impressive to watch him switch between several different
characters in the span of one short scene.
Glass
mixes the tones and generic
conventions of the previous two films in the same way that it merges
the characters. Unbreakable
was
a gritty and subversive superhero film and Split
took
the form of a thriller – this film mixes both of these genres to
create something dark and exciting. It is clear that this film is
very knowing of what genres it belongs to, playing up the creepiness
of the night-time scenes in the psychiatric hospital and keeping us
uncertain as to the films outcome for as long as possible. There are
also many references to comic book conventions, especially from Mr.
Glass, but this film is very deliberate in setting itself apart from
the popular comic adaptations of Marvel and DC. Shyamalan shows us
through these characters that heroes and villains in the real world
would be harder to distinguish between, and due to their inhuman
capabilities would most likely be seen as threats either way. This
dark thriller of a superhero film comes at just the right time and
provides us with an inventive alternative to the superheroes that the
big screen has been over-saturated with recently.
Of
course, with an M. Night Shyamalan film one expects a big twist, and
Glass provides
one that is rather uncharacteristic of the director. It gives
definitive answers to the questions that are posed during the film
and for once you won't leave with more questions than you entered
with. Whilst this is likely a good thing for a film that ends a
trilogy, taking away all of the ambiguity in the film also felt like
it took away part of the fun. Depending on your view of Shyamalan,
this lack of ambiguity could either be seen as a positive or negative
aspect of the films ending, however I felt that the film could have
had more impact if it had left things a bit more open to
interpretation. The twist also comes completely out of the blue in
the films final act and is not set up at all in either Split
or
Unbreakable,
which
comes across less as a surprise and more perhaps as lazy writing, a
crucial plot point thrown in at the last minute. The showdown between
Dunn, Glass, and Kevin also isn't as grand in scale as what the film
initially promises, and this makes the third act overall somewhat
disappointing, although the ultimate conclusion that the film comes
to is at least satisfying.
Despite struggling towards the end, Glass
isn't a complete disappointment. There is just the sense that some aspects, the
twist especially, could have been better executed in order for
the film to have more impact. However it remains a breath of fresh
air when it comes to the superhero genre, and the performances of the
leading trio cannot be faulted. Ultimately Glass
does justice to the
previous films and their characters, and provides a satisfying end to
their story.
