Glass (2019)

[Webslinger]

M. Night Shyamalan’s propensity for twist endings ends up being the undoing of his ambitious crossover sequel, Glass. As a fan of both Unbreakable and Split, I was more excited for a new Shyamalan movie than I have been since before his mid-2000s slump, and the majority of the film delivers upon that promise as a slow-burn deconstruction of the heroic and villainous qualities of the three principal characters. There are numerous well-constructed scenes and the universes of the first two films gel surprisingly well. But those last 25 minutes… I was ready to grade this movie as a strong “B” before a twist sends the film flying off the rails and makes much of the narrative that came before it feel pointless as one stops to consider the gaping logical holes that open because of it. Shyamalan frames this twist as if it’s a diabolically clever way of reframing the film, but it actually cheapens much of what made the film work for the majority of its running time. That said, James McAvoy remains tons of fun to watch in his scenery-devouring role from Split, Samuel L. Jackson gets some stellar moments as the titular villain, Sarah Paulson does stellar work in bringing out more strength in her character than is present in the script, and Spencer Treat Clark and Anya Taylor-Joy are good enough in sidelined roles that I wish they had been in more of the film. I thought the days of miscalculated Shyamalan twist endings we’re behind us, but then he comes and delivers a doozy here that shoots down what was otherwise a pretty solid unconventional superhero flick – as his Robot Chicken avatar would say: What a twist! 

 

C+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- The twist really stopped this movie dead in its tracks for me. I was no big fan of the deus ex machina in Split either (which naturally gets referenced again here), but at least that little twist made sense in terms of Casey's character arc and it took up precious little time. This movie needs considerably longer to flesh out the ramifications of the reveal about Paulson's character, and it leaves viewers with enough time to wonder why her organization - knowing full well that superhumans exist and wanting to make sure that neither superheroes nor supervillains ever gain public traction, and knowing that they have three exceptionally powerful people in their hands - wouldn't just kill Dunn, Kevin, and Glass on sight rather than half-assing some attempt at rehabilitation that they must know is doomed to fail. And the shocking twist-upon-a-twist involving the security camera footage is... not that shocking? We already know that Elijah is a criminal mastermind, so it makes perfect sense that he'd somehow be a few steps ahead and find a way to leak something out.

 

- Not gonna lie: I felt like Elijah's gloating about just needing more time to create Kevin and then going on about how others doubted him was a thinly-veiled Shyamalan speaking about this franchise's unlikely trajectory.

[Avatree]

Difficult to follow and so boring that I fell asleep. The person behind me tapped me to tell me I was snoring.

 

James McAvoy performance is quite funny (in a bad way)

 

One major plot hole, if you kidnapped four hot cheerleaders wearing tiny miniskirts why would you simply leave them there and not do anything with them???

[aabattery]

Ol' M. Knight salt baed a lot of dumb shit over the movie but the overall product was pretty interesting. Deffo better than Split. Solid B.

 

What the hell kinda pothole was that though? You'd lose your whole car if you drove into that thing. 

 

 

[DeeCee]

The US is known for it’s poorly maintained infrastructure. 

 

I think this week is Infrastructure Week. 

[Goffe]

It’s actually pretty good? Color me surprised, the best of the 3. Shyamalan still rocks the art of blocking. Breathtaking visually. The lengthy closing setpiece is very entertaining.

 

7/10

Edited April 30, 2019 by Goffe

[dxmatrixdt]

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Edited May 2, 2023 by dxmatrixdt