Glass was... disappointing.
The theoretical final installment in M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable trilogy nearly twenty years after the first film released back when Shyamalan’s reputation was still untarnished. After a surprising return to form with Split I was tentatively hopeful this would be an excellent final installment to a more grounded superhero story in an era that has largely presented superheroes incuriously.
Glass gave me a little of what I wanted, and deeply disappointed in other ways. The twist, like so many of M. Night's trademark twists from his weaker films, doesn't make the film better, instead actively sabotaging it.
The performances are kind of all over the place in this one, James McAvoy as Kevin "The Horde" Wendall Crumb is easily the standout here, commanding every scene he's in, he has the best dialogue and manages to keep the film afloat during the meandering second act. Bruce Willis gave up on putting effort into his performances years ago and it's almost jarring to see him so expressive in the Unbreakable flashbacks the film uses as compared to his lackluster performance in this film. Sam Jackson doesn't get a lot of time to shine, despite being the title character, but he manages to steal the few scenes he's given with some truly diabolical speeches. Sarah Paulson was surprisingly bad here; I don't know if it was the direction or what because I usually love her, but her character felt completely unbelievable and wooden. They brought back David Dunn's son from Unbreakable which was cool, and he gave a solid turn with the few scenes he’s in. Anya Taylor- Joy is kind of just there, her function in the film feels half-baked.
The film doesn't do itself any favors right off the bat by not really setting the stage much at all, it practically assumes everyone's just finished watching Unbreakable and Split back to back as they walk into the theater. Unlike most finale's, this film feels absolutely tiny in scale, even compared to Split which largely took place in a single room. The films pace is sluggish and can start to feel kind of directionless in the second act. A lot of the writing is just such a big step down from the previous films, there are random pop culture references that instantly date the film and feel like half-hearted attempts to appeal to a mass audience.
Though there are ostensibly three major character’s Crumb dominates most of the film while Dunn is given this incredibly weak arc that retreads his arc in Unbreakable. Mr. Glass acts as more of a puppeteer existing in the background for most of the runtime, but as a result the conclusion of his arc lacks the impact it could’ve had with proper set up.
The film is extremely uneven, and while it provides a conclusion to the trilogy, it's a conclusion I think a lot of people are going to take issue with. I'd recommend it to fans of the first two that absolutely need to see what happens, just prepare for it to end on a somewhat sour note. I think new viewers will be largely lost without the previous films for reference both of which are significantly better and absolutely worth your time over this.
5/10 Shattered and broken
SPOILERS:
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The film's ending is equal parts disappointing and completely out of left field.
We learn that there is a secret society trying to prevent individuals with extraordinary powers from realizing they have them. They essentially act like the extremist version of the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter, covering up any evidence of extraordinary feats up to and including the murder of said gifted individuals. Thus, the film ends with the death of all three main characters. It's incredible how much it undercuts the build-up from the first two films, David Dunn drowns in a fucking puddle, Glass dies in one of the most unintentionally hilarious ways I've ever seen, and Crumb gets shot, once.
But that's not it, lo and behold Glass predicted everything the whole time and prepared for it and now the whole world knows about superheroes. At the end of everything, the villain somehow succeeds but he succeeds at doing something the surviving characters are celebrating. This is something that could maybe work in a much more refined version of this script possibly with an actual budget and real third act. The film we get doesn't set it up at all. The inclusion of this secret society out of nowhere really hurts the believability of what previously had felt like a fairly grounded look at superheroes, and the ending of three strong characters is sloppy and anticlimactic as all hell.
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