Glass was a bigger risk than any Hollywood blockbuster lately — its target audience is to only those who have seen both Unbreakable and Split, but not all average moviegoers will be able to tell you who David Dunn and Elijah Price are. And for a big studio movie marketed as a superhero film, it doesn’t have a lot of action either. However, Glass presents us with deep story development and world-building unlike other superhero franchises, as a truly great sequel to two outstanding films. The movie holds on to the strengths of the previous two films, which on their own feel very different but are combined seamlessly. M. Night Shyamalan’s style is always there, and his lovely direction is impressive once again, including great cinematography and music. This movie could not have worked without Shyamalan, whose vision for this film has been out there since he made Unbreakable nineteen years ago, and then he brilliantly connected it with Split in the latter’s final scene, a shocking revelation that nobody knew about until the ending of the film. Shyamalan is a one of a kind filmmaker and his passion really shows here with how well he was able to follow up two films of his own and still bring the great style and unpredictability we love from him, even if his cameos are still silly and some lines of dialogue could have been removed. James McAvoy doesn’t show any less commitment or steal the screen any less effectively than he did in Split, and even when he’s placed with Hollywood legends such as Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, he still makes Kevin Wendell Crumb the most memorable part of the film, making the audience let go of his real-life appearance and disappearing into a frightening role we’ve loved to follow over these last two films. He is able to bring a unique feeling to each personality and really captures this character with a performance like no other.
Shyamalan adds a lot more of the commentary on superhero stories that we got to love in Unbreakable, and the other characters doubting the super-humanity of these characters and how their peers are involved or affected, like David’s son’s strong belief in his father as a superhero and helping him track down criminals, is very interesting. Also a welcome return is Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey, who was abducted by Kevin in Split but the direction their chemistry takes here is always intriguing. Though some critics were not big on this conclusion to Shyamalan’s one-of-a-kind trilogy, I think he did a great job following up on two of his films and bringing the themes of Glass to the screen more effectively than most modern sequels. The climax will split many but I think it had some jaw-dropping revelations and moments that feel very earned and a shocking and risky twist that no other mainstream filmmaker would have gone for. However, the ending does find a brilliant idea but then goes on 5 minutes too long which were not needed and nearly ruined the effect Shyamalan was originally going for. Also, there are a few fight scenes where the violence could have been more utilized, but ultimately this is an expectation-defying and unique film that’s the final part of an expectation-defying and unique trilogy, and you should see this strongly done thriller on the big screen despite what the critics are saying — but make sure you see Unbreakable and Split first.
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