Glass - a review

The final issue of the Unbreakable-trilogy. Our three ‘blessed’ people: Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), The Horde (James McAvoy) and The Overseer (David Dunne) are captured and placed in a mental institution. Are they all insane to believe that they are superhuman or is there something at play here? Mr. Glass knows.

Glass just doesn’t work!

It’s a well made movie that gets bogged down by the sequel-curse.

Scream 2 explained the rules for a horror sequel. Me, here; I could explain the rules of a comic-book-movie sequel. But the Unbreakable-trilogy is a special case in that regard because it isn’t as flashy as your run-of-the-mill Marvel or DC extravaganza. One could, very well call the trilogy ‘urban drama’.

Still a lot of the things Glass does are reminiscent to ‘mistakes’ in various sequels made previous. The movie could’ve done without those. Let’s just name some things that I noticed.

Mr. Glass

The movie is called Glass. Yet, the main character of the movie isn’t really Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) himself but rather The Horde (James McAvoy). The Horde steals every scene he is in whilst Mr. Glass is catatonic for the first hour.

Then, when Mr. Glass comes to play his master scheme is above all underwhelming.

This has a lot to do with the premise of the ‘two towers’ –two new skyscrapers set to be unveiled at a certain date. The movie is dangling the carrot of a massive fight between The Overseer (Bruce Willis) and the Horde at this location in front of the audience yet it never gets there.

This sort of trick never really works unless it is a misdirection for something greater –like, for instance, the brilliant forty-minute dialogue in Kill Bill volume 2 (and still it gave us the showdown).

Instead the main fight takes place (in daylight) at the front lawn of the institution. That doesn’t quite work for me.

The Horde

Whenever a sequel is made writers want to return to previous characters. This isn’t always needed. Glass is filled to the brim with (basically) unnecessary characters. Elijah’s mother makes an appearance, Dunn’s son, Kevin’s surviving victim. And none of them really get a lot to do.

Not to mention the unneeded M. Night cameo.
The cameo was fun (I can’t blame the man) but his character-explanation was cringe worthy.

Though, I understand that in a meta-sense, he's talking to the public here.

I understand that it’s a reference to the comic-books (it is even spotlighted by Mr. Glass’s comment). But if characters don’t get involved in the story and are reduced to merely standing about watching things happen then they have no function.

The Overseer

As is often the case in sequels the actors might have changed their persona and as such changed their attitude to a role. Harrison Ford is often grumpy nowadays and Al Pacino is always shouting. Bruce Willis is also a bit more grumpy but he does give his best in this movie. Yet, the script doesn’t allow him to overcome this 'grumpyness' by giving him some more character work.

I believe that an actor can get into an 'old part' like a pair of comfortable slippers. But he/she does need some scriptual thing to get him there. Glass simply doesn't give Bruce Willis the leeway to build upon.

This is especially apparent by the exclusion of the mother/wife character previously played by Robin Wright. There isn’t a moment of sadness or remorse allowed for the actor (Bruce Willis) to work with.

I believe the movie should've kept her character; if not for the simple fact that it is far more believable that she's still alive rather than Elijah's mother.

It is obvious (I own the DVD so I know) that the flashbacks in Glass are deleted scenes from Unbreakable.

It’s fun to include them in this movie but it only serves as a connection rather than a enrichment of the story.

It can also be seen as ‘cheap’.

Come out to play: Patricia

When dealing with sequels writers often don’t want to include new characters. They just want to ‘play around’ with the ‘cool ones’ they already created.

The female psychiatrist (Sarah Paulson), is a prime example of this, as she has no backstory whatsoever. She’s just there.

One short scene between her and James Dunn’s son reveals a little bit about her but, for the rest, she remains a mystery. Again, this moves all the focus to The Horde.

But, of course, this takes away, all possibilities for a fresh new story.

Come out to play: Barry

I applaud the fact that M. Night decided to let go of ‘twisting’ in every movie he touches. However, the reveal he pulls in Glass (it’s not a twist in the ‘pull the rug from under you’ kind of way) comes far too late.

This is the suspense element. The audience is never informed about a possible double agenda some characters might be having because ‘we’ never got to know the character. So when the story shifts the audience (or me, at least) isn’t really impressed.

SPOILER: Also the reveal about Kevin Crump’s father has been canon ever since Split

 so that, to me, wasn’t very impressive either.

Come out to play: Dennis

In my perfect version of the movie Glass a lot of the returning characters should be written out.

The characters left who are needed to tell the story should be explored more and, above all, interact with each other more. With this some more focus on the relationship between Mr. Glass and the Overseer would be very welcome (they don’t share a single scene face-to-face together). And -only then- some more suspense by informing the audience about what is really going one would be great. Lastly I would drop that whole ‘two towers’ carrot. Because, if you aren’t even going there don’t warm the audience for it.

Now, in the current version, Glass feels like a 90 minutes movie that would’ve worked better as a one-hour movie. Meaning, some new storylines should’ve been introduced to make it longer, better and more fulfilling.

I think this movie came too soon for M. Night. He should’ve worked on the script a few drafts more.

Come out to play: Hedwig

Still, the movie as is, is quite a fun feature. Glass shows, once again, that M. Night is far more at home with a small scaled movie than he is with blockbuster world-building franchise-fare. His shots are playful. Each and every reflexion shot is a feast for the eyes.

He does know how to get the best out of actors (McAvoy is the prime example here; the way he shifts from personality to personality is great). But, at the same time, he is still lacking the iron grip of ‘reeling in’. This either on set or by editing after. Meaning: he gives James McAvoy far too much room in this movie to play with. Again, for a movie called Glass, it is basically Split 2.

Come out to play: Beast

I had a fun time at the movies. I understand where the writer/director wanted to go with this well shot and acted (for the characters that were allowed to) movie. But, at the same times, I was underwhelmed. I could see the potential on the horizon but Glass never really gets there.

Glass is the weaker of the three (like the Godfather III) in the trilogy. A good movie; but not the perfect end I hoped for.