GLASS

I was on Rotten Tomatoes reading some horrifically mean reviews of M. Night Shyamalan’s sequel to UNBREAKABLE & SPLIT – all complete with horrible puns on cracked glass and glasses half full etc…

Okay even as a huge Philly film supporter, I’m not going to say I have enjoyed all of Night’s movies, or that I’ve even seen them all; but I can’t understand why movie critics really get off on tearing him down, they want to hate his movies. Many of them that will admit Unbreakable and Split were both pretty good, seem to do so reluctantly.

I can’t think of another filmmaker who gets such vitriolic treatment from reviewers. It’s as if they continue to have some bias against Shyamalan, all based on their love of The Sixth Sense. It’s crazy that they seem to either feel like he should have made a one and done, or make every film live up to his first film – otherwise, prepare to face their wrath!

I liked GLASS, I thought it managed a lot of things very well. First, we need to know where all 3 characters have been since last we’ve seen them, and since we’ve seen Kevin/Split (James McAvoy) most recently, it starts with his youngest personality Hedwig once again gleefully entertaining some captured females, regaling them with horror stories of The Beast. Was delighted to see David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is still a Vigilante for good after all these years and still close to his son, who is played by the same actor, Spence Treat Clark. Then they both join Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) who has been in a mental hospital all these 19 years.

One of the major criticisms seems to be that if this is a superhero movie, then it should have more action. But I don’t think it is supposed to be a superhero movie. Yes, Shyamalan is looking to introduce a movie Universe of his own, but that doesn’t mean he’s trying to compete with Marvel or DC. Yes, the theme of the movie recreates the Comic book tropes brought out in Unbreakable, and the idea that the human mind is capable of believing something to the point of creating something inexplicable, which was the basis of Split. Glass puts the two ideas together but as a character study.

Now, I will say, even with Blumhouse behind him, you can tell he didn’t have a big budget to work with, so some of the movie taking place almost entirely at the mental hospital is due to money constraints as much as story motives. I have to admit I was waiting for a cinematic scene of David being thoroughly drenched in his room, instead of just cutting to a wet Willis, after his attempt at escape.

Bottom line: I strongly recommend seeing the other two films before seeing GLASS, because as a character study, you need to know and have feelings for these men going in. McAvoy is mesmerizing being able to morph in and out of his personalities on a dime, Jackson is still hilariously chilling as Mr. Glass and Willis gives us sardonic silence like no one else. There’s a decent set up for future movies based on a new twist, and ultimately, I feel it was a fitting ending for each character. Plus, there’s a number of voice overs by Philly’s own Ukee Washington!