‘Glass’ starts slow, but is a quality conclusion to Shyamalan’s trilogy

Posted on January 25, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

Today, superhero movies are dominating the box office while also telling sometimes grounded, mature stories. But 19 years ago, back in 2000, if you had predicted such a pop culture world, you’d have been laughed out of the room. Sure, that summer saw the release of Fox’s “X-Men” film, but its critical and financial success was very much the exception, and would only be shown as the new rule by the release of “Spider-Man” in 2001.

In November 2000, however, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan released the much-anticipated follow-up to his breakout success, “The Sixth Sense.” His new film was called “Unbreakable” and like its predecessor, starred Bruce Willis, this time as a security guard who miraculously survives a train accident that kills everyone else on board. The incident draws the interest of comic book aficionado Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who suffers from brittle bone disease.

What followed is essentially an extremely grounded, realistic look at what would happen if someone discovered they had superpowers, like something out of a comic book. Remember, this was five years before we’d get Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” and eight years before “The Dark Knight,” not to mention 14 years before “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” perhaps the most serious and genre-defying installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Moving ahead to 2016, Shyamalan, following an extended low period in his career, was back on the upswing and delivered his latest intelligent thriller, “Split,” about a disturbed man named Kevin (James McAvoy) with 23 distinct personalities residing in his mind. Several of the personalities believe there is a 24th, one they call “the Beast,” who has abilities to transcend normal humanity. The Horde, as they call themselves, kidnap girls, including Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy) to feed the Beast, eagerly awaiting his ascension.

And, that brings us to “Glass,” Shyamalan’s concluding installment in his comic book-inspired trilogy. The story brings our three principal characters — David, Kevin and Elijah — to a mental hospital, where Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson, “American Horror Story”) is convinced they are all suffering from the same mental illness that manifests itself in delusions of grandeur, specifically the belief that they have supernatural abilities like those found in comic books.

With “Unbreakable” my favorite Shyamalan movie of the lot, and “Split” being the first top-tier work from the director since 2002’s “Signs,” I went into “Glass” with a lot of expectations. This scared me, especially when the early buzz was less than enthusiastic. My biggest worry was that Shyamalan would abandon the spirit of the first two movies and try for something more grandiose, more in line with the standard superhero movies we get today (nothing against those films, but that isn’t what “Unbreakable” and “Split” were building toward).

Fortunately, Shyamalan stays true to his vision and delivers a quality conclusion to the trilogy, although it suffers from a slow first act and an ending that might not be what fans — myself included — were hoping for.

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