If you watch Glass critically, you might believe it is about the power of belief. If one believes they can do extraordinary things, they can. I posit, however, that theme was played out in Unbreakable and, in more thorough fashion, in Split. These predecessors look at that thought closely, but I believe that much like the character this film, M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass, is actually making you believe that is the plot, but it sneaks in a twist.
I just had to reference Robot Chicken in an M. Night Shyamalan review.
This is a story about secrets. When you get down to it, all comic books are. This series of films have been about how comic books mirror the real world and in this way, it truly exposes that everything in life hangs on secrets.
This film is a sequel to Unbreakable and Split, but almost separately, not as a trilogy. Truly Unbreakable and Split are both standalone films, and this just draws them together. One of the tough things about all three of these movies is they have a twist ending so it is tough to discuss them except in the abstract. So here we go: the unusually gifted characters from the previous films all meet up in this film in a hospital for the criminally insane with a doctor (played by the horrendous Sarah Paulson, my key beef with the film) who believes she can cure them.
As with the previous films, it is built on suspense and tension keyly constructed through dialogue scenes that capture and engage the audience despite the fact that not very much happens on the screen.
If you think that makes it dull, I would need to disagree with you.
Unlike this director’s other films, he scores the film throughout without all the brooding silences that punctuate much of his work. It is not pulpy or adventurous, but somber and haunting which helps set this aside from other films of this particular genre.
Even telling you the genre is a spoiler, for Jiminy’s sake! Sheesh!
Above all else, it is the performances that shine here. Bruce Willis turns in one of the least “weary” films he’s done in ages. While it doesn’t sparkle quite like his earlier work, it does partner well with his earlier film. Samuel L. Jackson does his normal high level of performance here as he continues to show his dramatic range has not dissipated through the years. However, it is James McAvoy that gets the showy part(s) that he reprises. He is equal parts chewing the scenery while grounding it with a gritty anger that seems to drive the character(s) striving to get into the light.
The first film really focuses on belief. It is key the characters believe the unlikely events unfolding to drive them forward. The second film is about hope and empathy which draws out humanity. This film, ultimately, is about the power of secrets. It’s about the power of while they are kept and the deadly force at which they can be revealed.
And this reviewer is working hard to keep those secrets, while wildly encouraging to see this film and it’s two precursors. This is a wonderful capstone to those earlier films. I still believe I like the first best, but they are all constructed with high quality and ultimately entertain and invite the audience to ponder.