Did you know that
Unbreakable (2000) was always meant to be a trilogy? Yup. That
was how it was intended from day one. It definitely needed two
sequels, right? Right? No, I'm being sarcastic! Unbreakable's
first sequel – if you can even call it that – was Split
(2016), a good movie, but it had nothing to do with the original. And
the second sequel Glass – the subject of today's review –
is an awkward marriage of the two. I'm going to have to look at Glass
on its own since I haven't seen Unbreakable, so how does it
fare in the eyes of this fractionally informed viewer? Let's find
out.
Glass is about
the characters from both of the previous two films and despite having
not seen Unbreakable I was able to pick up on and follow
things alright. After a fight to free some hostages/keep some human
sacrifices the Horde and the Overseer are imprisoned in a mental
institution along with Mr. Glass. There they are treated by Dr. Ellie
Staple who tries convincing them – and the world – that they
don't really possess superpowers. It's a story that dissects and
deconstructs how superhero movies and comic books work. It seems that
every five minutes or so people talk about comic book tropes and
cliches and what they think superheroes mean to people. These
discussions can be interesting at first but I can't help but think
they've overstayed their welcome by the time they keep showing up
even during the final action scene. As for the tone, Glass is
largely devoid of the tension and thrills that Split had. The
plot moves along nonchalantly, trying to slowly build into action,
which leads me to my biggest complaint about Glass: it's kind
of boring. Pretty much the entire second act is people sitting around
and talking; nothing happens! This isn't helped by the fact that
probably 3/4 of this film takes place at one location, making it feel
like a prison movie. And to add insult to injury, the second act
teases us with a cool location that we don't even get to see! What a
load.
What doesn't suck is
the acting; the three main characters are all very well portrayed.
We've got Samuel L. Jackson as the enigmatic Mr. Glass, Bruce Willis
as the in-over-his-head vigilante Overseer, and James McAvoy as the
Horde, i.e. that guy with two dozen personalities. The problem comes
from the fact that the story doesn't always know what to do with
them. For example, Bruce Willis is gone for large portions of the
film. Also, remember how terrifying it was seeing Kevin Wendell Crumb
become the Beast in Split? Remember how it only happened twice
in that film? Well, in this one it happens probably ten or eleven
times and after a while it starts to look silly. And then there's Dr.
Staple played by a rather one-note Sarah Paulson whose job it is to
hold the same facial expression throughout the entire film. Also, why
does the lady playing Mr. Glass's mother look like she's the same age
as him?
Lastly, I have to
discuss the direction by M. Night Shyamalan. I've already mentioned
how he handled Glass' tone and as for the cinematography it's
pretty much what you'd expect of the man. If you like extreme
closeups then you'll freakin' love Glass. There's also plenty
of subjective camera angles as well as some dynamic shots centred on
the characters which looks cool at first but also makes the action
scenes hard to watch. Shyamalan also makes his customary cameo. So
yeah, there's that.
And that's Glass,
a thoroughly “meh” superhero film that tries to be really
different and smart but with mixed success which could've been so
much more. One could say that it's a return-to-mediocre-form for M.
Night Shyamalan. But if you ask me there's two words that perfectly
sum up Glass: half empty.
Grade:
