Even a magnificent McAvoy can’t save Glass muddle
Glass (M, 129mins) Directed by M Night Shyamalan Reviewed by James Croot ★★1⁄2
Turns out, the greatest trick M Night Shyamalan ever pulled was convincing us he could still make good movies.
Showcasing a magnificent performance by James McAvoy,
Split was one of 2017’s true unexpected delights, a taut, tense thriller that delivered plenty of thrills and chills.
It was a reminder of the power of the ability to surprise and enthral by the one-time creator of The Sixth Sense, Signs and The
Village – something he’d seemingly misplaced for almost the entire previous decade. Plus, it had a kicker of an ending, one that linked it to his earlier comic-book superhero sophomore effect
Unbreakable – opening up all sorts of possibilities.
Well, I’m sorry to say he’s squandered those with this hamfisted ‘‘origin-tale’’ that feels more like DC’s Dawn of Justice than any of the Marvellously innovative and entertaining flicks being made by the opposition.
As Glass opens, we’re back on the streets of Philadelphia as home security specialist David Dunn (Bruce Willis) joins the manhunt for Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy). A troubled young man, battling an affliction that means he has 24 distinct personalities, Crumb has been kidnapping and killing young women while somehow managing to avoid the police.
However, Dunn, the sole survivor of a devastating train derailment almost two decades ago, is convinced he can bring him to justice. But when their inevitable showdown is interrupted by the fuzz, Dunn is horrified to discover that both he and Crumb are to be packed off to Raven Hill Memorial Psychiatric Research Hospital for ‘‘treatment’’. A specialist in ‘‘their particular delusions of grandeur’’, Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) informs the pair that she has been given three days to ‘‘cure them’’ by whatever means necessary.
Cue plenty of opportunities for McAvoy to bring his two-dozen characters (ranging from a pair of Irish twins to a type-one diabetic and a Professor of Japanese cinema) and for Shyamalan to muse on the modern-day obsession with superheroes.
As he attempts to convince us to look past the capes and monologuing villains for something more grounded, some interesting ideas emerge, but they are washed away by a whole unsatisfying climax and twist that’s straight out of the Marvel playbook (and just feels like a ripoff of a key X-Men storyline).
Likewise, there’s plenty of artistic endeavour to admire in the film-maker’s use of the full frame, reflections and extreme close-ups, but it seems like, as a writer, Shyamalan wasn’t sure what to do with the trio of competing characters Split and Unbreakable had set up. This is the M Night of
The Happening, After Earth and Lady in the Water (complete with a symbolically heavy-handed cameo), putting style before substance, sub-text ahead of show.
I’ve always been a Glass half-full fan of Shyamalan, but this drab disappointment has shattered my faith.