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M. Night Shyamalan’s 19-year-long Eastrail 177 trilogy comes to a fairly shattering conclusion in Glass. When Unbreakable’s reluctant hero, David Dunn (Bruce Willis), finally meets the Beast, the most monstrous personality of Kevin Wendall Crumb’s (James McAvoy, Split (2016)) so-called Horde of personalities, the long-awaited confrontation comes to an abrupt end. It leaves both men in the same mental asylum as Dunn’s former nemesis, the titular Mr. Glass, aka Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson). The three find themselves under the ‘care’ of Dr. Staple (Sarah Paulson), who intends to cure them of their delusions of superpowers.
Unbreakable was released in 2000, and it remains one of the most unconventional takes on the superhero genre. When it was first released, before the movie-going public grew wary of the credit ‘directed by M. Night Shyamalan,’ there was talk that it was going to be the first part of a trilogy. In the 19 years since, we have come to love and embrace comic book movies in a way that seemed unlikely when Unbreakable was new and did poorly, despite phenomenal performances from Willis and Jackson.
Fast-forward to 2016: James McAvoy stars in Split, a controversial psychological horror/thriller movie about a man with 23 personalities and the horror that comes about when a 24th, the Beast, is born. At this point, audiences expect a Shyamalan signature twist ending, and he provides a surprise that re-contextualises what is, to this point, a very satisfactory stand-alone movie entirely: Split is actually a sequel to Unbreakable, as evinced by the cameo appearance of David Dunn right before the credits roll. Minds are blown, Unbreakable gets a new surge of popularity and Glass becomes inevitable.
Going into Glass, I hadn’t seen either previous movie, and wondered what if what I was missing (greater significance and depth) was due to that. Glass is an ambitious movie, and quickly led me to watch the earlier movies for more context — and in that way, it is successful. But upon viewing the earlier movies, I am forced to conclude that Glass is the weakest of the three. It stands alone poorly and anything that I’d appreciate in it is better done in the earlier films. The comic books/superhero commentary offered in Unbreakable was subtle and intimate; where the themes are picked up in Glass, they’re hamfisted, lacking in nuance, and utterly fail as a grandiose explanation of a frankly-terrible conclusion. (Pro tip: the ending of this movie feels like the perfect set-up for a helluva stinger. I even stuck around through the end credits to see, but there was nothing. You’re safe to leave when the credits roll.)
Having said that: Bruce Willis is wistfully noble as David Dunn, the first superhero that I can think of that’s defined by his status as a father the way Batman is defined by being an orphan. James McAvoy has lost none of the nuances that distinguish Kevin’s various personalities and he brings a new level of pathos to the role when Split’s Final Girl Casey (the superb Anya Taylor-Joy) returns to urge her once-kidnapper to try to get something out of Dr. Staple’s therapy. Samuel L. Jackson’s reported years-long hounding of Shyamalan (“When are we making the sequel, motherfucker?”) pays off in his return as evil genius Elijah. Although much of his performance is in a hospital gown and a wheelchair, Jackson’s charisma and menace remain as commanding as ever.
On a host of levels, Glass should work, but it doesn’t. The signature ‘twist ending’ this time around only felt more flat and disappointing once I had greater context; the preceding revelation concerning Kevin, however, becomes a bit cooler. Overall, this is an ambitious failure, the weakest of the Eastrail 177 trilogy.
Glass opened Friday 18 January, and is now on wide-release across Ireland.
