Glass

Glass

Starring James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson
Directed by M. Night Shaymalan

The Story:
While on the hunt for the Beast (James McAvoy), David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) manage to track him down at an abandoned building where he's holding four girls captive.  During the struggle they're apprehended by Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), who puts them in a mental asylum where she's been keeping a comatose Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson).  She plans to prove to them that superheroes don't exist, and that their supposed powers can be explained logically, but as the day develops, they all become pawns in Elijah's - a.k.a. Mr. Glass - scheme that will expose them to the world and prove without a doubt that there are people with special powers out there.

The Synopsis:
There's something about disagreements that I really like - probably because it's always interesting to hear a differing point of view.  We can all agree to things like "we need oxygen to live," "don't look directly at the sun," or "don't eat yellow snow," and there's not a lot of room for debate.  However, there's other issues in life where debate is almost essential, and films is one of those avenues.  Very rarely does everyone agree that a movie is spectacular or stinky, and each side is more than willing to plead their case as to why their view is right.  Although, as it is with other issues (like politics and religion), these disagreements could escalate to name calling and personal attacks, and I for one prefer a civilized, logical debate instead of foolish name calling.

"Glass," the very highly anticipated trilogy finale to M. Night Syamalan's film universe that we never knew existed until 2016, is one of those films that is highly polarizing - either you absolutely love it, or totally loathe it, and there's not a lot of wiggle room in between.  The critics side on the loathing it, currently rating it an abysmal 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, while most of the general moviegoing public love it, giving it a solid 79%.  I, for one, side with the general public, and I feel that - while not his best - it still sits atop of Shyamalan's mountain of stellar work, providing a wholly unique look at the superhero subgenre in a way that only he can do.

In 2000, Shyamalan released "Unbreakable," which served as an unwitting precursor to the superhero genre we know today.  In it, we meet David Dunn, who is the only survivor of a train derailment due to the fact that he's basically unbreakable - he's super strong, and doesn't get hurt.  In the same film we meet Mr. Glass, who's pretty much the opposite - a man with bones so brittle they break at the simplest touch - but whose intellect parallels the smartest people in history.  We figured after the film, we wouldn't see these characters again - until sixteen years later.  "Split" featured a man named Kevin Wendell Crumb, who suffered from DID after being brutally beaten as a child by his mother.  One of his personalities is known as the Beast, a supposed super being who wishes to convert people to loving the broken, and who inhabits seemingly superhuman abilities.  No one figured the two would be connected until the end of "Split," when we see David Dunn sitting at a diner discussing the Beast's escape.  We knew then that these two long-gestating films were connected, and eagerly waited for the final mashup to happen.

This happened in 2019, with the release of "Glass," serving as the most meta-superhero movie ever.  It discusses its own tropes (such as the villainous monologue) and makes it the most grounded superhero movie to date.  After being apprehended, both Kevin and David are taken to a mental institution where Elijah is already being held, and undergo therapy by Dr. Ellie Staple, who specializes in the supposed mental illness of thinking people are superheroes.  She uses logic and reasoning to try and convince the three men that they really aren't super, and thus this is the main focus of the film.  It could be said that such a supposed mental illness could exist in today's world where we're over saturated with superheroes and the like, and Shyamalan manages to really ground this in a way that serves to prove that this really could take place in the here and now - no grandiose action sequences, no over-the-top CGI, nothing you'd see in a traditional superhero movie - yet that's exactly what this is.

The entire film is a very cerebral one, where you need to pay attention to the littlest of details in order to really piece the puzzle together - like pieces of glass laying on the ground.  There's little nods in the film that become fully actualized in the end, leaving you to remember them before and realize the true significance of them in a way that serves as a visual slingshot - we're being pulled back ever so slowly, re-visiting these three men in a way that seems new as well as old, until we're shot out in breakneck speed and find how all the pieces connect.  It's Shyamalan at his best.

The whole gang also returns in front of the screen, as both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson shine in their roles they created nineteen years earlier.  Also returning to the game is Elijah's mother - again played by Charlayne Woodard (fun fact: Jackson is actually five years older than the woman playing his mother) - and David's son Joseph (also again played by Spencer Treat Clark).  Anya Taylor-Joy also returns as Casey, the girl that Kevin kept alive at the end of "Split," and also introduces Sarah Paulson as the doctor who wants to disprove superheroes exist.

Yet at the heart of the film is James McAvoy, who once again stuns audiences with his powerful performance of Kevin Wendell Crumb.  Suffering from 24 multiple personalities, we witness as Kevin changes from the proper British woman Patricia, to the eternal-nine-year-old Hedwig, to the OCD Dennis, and many more.  McAvoy fully encompasses all these personalities in stunning ways, many of which come and go as we see McAvoy totally change his whole persona on a dime.  It's once again wonderful acting at its finest, and James McAvoy again gets to really use all his talents to their strengths.

There's so much more to "Glass" than what we see on the surface, and Shyamalan uses all the senses to really encapsulate his thoughts.  We see the three men in distinctly different colors that serve to drive home their purpose - David is often seen in green (symbolizing life), Kevin in yellow (as in devout religion, such as the clothes Buddhist priests wear),  and Elijah in purple (royalty, as he sees himself as something greater than anyone else).  It's a very long wait for this trilogy to end, and it ends on a particularly unique way - one that, again, only Shyamalan could accomplish.

The Summary:
"Glass" is a film that's truly polarizing, one that you'll either love or hate - and personally I absolutely loved it, due to a thoughtful script, strong acting, and offering a dialogue that far supersedes any other superhero film.

The Score: A+