Shyamalan’s ‘Glass’ has some cracks
End of the trilogy is a letdown. Movie review,
Very often with superhero crossovers in comic-book lore, an epic story starts strong in the beginning only to inevitably fail in sticking the landing.
In that vein, M. Night Shyamalan is a little too faithful to the artistic medium with his unsatisfying “Glass” ( ★★☆☆; rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide Friday), the concluding part of the writer/director’s “Unbreakable” trilogy. It’s a letdown, despite a good amount of emotional richness and occasional glimpses of greatness.
The stumble is even more vexing considering that Shyamalan, with his fantastic 2000 thriller “Unbreakable,” seemed to understand the hidden storytelling potential at the core of superhero tales better than anybody, way before Marvel figured it out in the blockbuster realm. A befuddling melange of superpowered showdowns, psychological gaslighting and self-important comic meanderings, it’s a finale that doesn’t know what it wants to be.
It has been 19 years since Philadelphia train-wreck survivor David Dunn (Bruce Willis) came to grips with his nighimmortality – and revealed the mass-murdering tendencies of very breakable frenemy Elijah Price, aka Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson). The grounded superman protects and serves by running his own security store but also being Philly’s Batman, playing vigilante with the help of his own Alfred, son Joseph (a returning Spencer Treat Clark).
Dunn, the guy everybody has named “Overseer,” tracks down “The Horde,” the moniker given to Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) – antagonist of Shyamalan’s 2017 middle chapter “Split” – and his 24 personalities, including the animalistic Beast. Dunn saves a group of cheerleaders from Crumb’s clutches, but both hero and villain are surprised by the authorities and put in an asylum by psychiatrist Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson).
They’re admitted to the same facility where Glass has spent two decades under sedation, and Staple wants to study all three for the “delusions of grandeur” that make them believe they’re superheroes. The situation goes sideways, the “bad guys” team up, and a nefarious plan unfolds involving the tallest building in the city that just happens to be opening for business.
If you’re a fan of the previous films, it’s neat seeing all three main characters together, though the screen time is fleeting. As in “Split,” McAvoy is amazing in a dynamic role where he shifts effortlessly among identities, and showcasing more personalities.
Jackson’s Glass is deliciously sinister, but Willis’ taciturn Dunn comes truly alive only when around his son.
Paulson’s character is an intriguing foil for them and, in a meta sense, for Shyamalan’s audience: “Comic books are an obsession. Have you ever been to a comic-book convention?” she says dismissively to a hospital guest. And the movie continues the series’ theme of an inherent connection between those who are “broken,” especially with McAvoy’s complex dude and his “Split” victim Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy).
“Glass” also offers jolting moments, including a harrowing scene of the fragile Elijah as a child on a carnival ride, with a couple of stuffed lions padding him for safety. But those sparks are buried by Shyalaman’s messages and superhero-influenced exposition.
What’s special about “Unbreakable” and “Split” is they are stories with secret identities, both harboring a thoughtful artifice underneath superficial familiarity. However, the twistiness of “Glass” – it is a Shyamalan project, after all – proves frustrating and confounding, shattering a real chance to do something super.