Glass: Full Review (A few spoilers)

Glass is the third movie is this surprise superhero universe that started with Unbreakable nineteen years ago. M. Night Shyamalan writes and directs this conclusion, (maybe) to his story that he has had in mind for many years now, and after finally watching it, I feel he should have left it alone. The film, although very compelling at times, is a bit redundant. I couldn't help but think, "We've seen all of this before."

Now it is no secret that the story-line for Split (2017), which was a pleasant surprise, was originally intended to be in Unbreakable.

M. Night has previously said that the character of the Horde was in the first script for Unbreakable, but that it would have added to much fat to the story, and it didn't give time for character development. That worked because it gave Shyamalan time to write a family drama with an air of mysticism to it. Supernatural elements were added to a film that was essentially a character study. Unbreakable showed us that the ordinary man could be extraordinary, and Split taught us that broken were the strongest among us all.

Glass just tells us that all over again. The first twenty minutes of the film shows us what would have been a more direct sequel to those first two films. Following David Dunn, played once again by Bruce Willis, and his son, as they own their own security shop in Philadelphia by day, and secretly run a vigilante network at night. David is after Kevin and his many personalities who was introduced in Split. This time the Horde has captured a group of cheerleaders, and after some investigating, David tracks them down.

From there, slight spoilers, David meets The Beast and after a short showdown, they have been discovered and sent to a mental institution where, Elijah Price, Samuel L Jackson, is being detained. For those of you who know already, Elijah, aka Mr. Glass, was the one to discover David and his abilities in the first film. He believes that extraordinary people live among us, the same people that you see in comic books only without the silly costumes and various other cartoon elements.

Shyamalan tries to bring a grounded feel to the superhero genre, and in both Split and Unbreakable he did that. Here, M. Night is unleashed. Creating the original film he always wanted to make, making Glass seem like an un-necessary remake. For example, less than a quarter of the way in, Shyamalan stops the film to deconstruct these characters once again, to give them self-doubt, and ultimately self-validation in the end when they have already been through all of that!

Sarah Paulson enters the movie as doctor Ellie Staple. A psychiatrist trying to convince all three men that they are delusional. That they are sick and that they don't have superpowers. This leads to Mr. Glass in the end enacting his master plan to prove that superheroes exists. Something that he did in the first and it felt satisfactory.

Eventually toward the end, Ms. Staple is not all what she seems, I won't say much more, as the film unravels into a series of twists in the same vein as The Village and Lady in the Water that makes you wish Shyamalan had just shown a little more restraint.

Glass does get certain emotional moments right, and some very entertaining scenes do occur as well as great performances from everyone, including James McAvoy who is back as Kevin and his many personalities. I hate to repeat what others have said but McAvoy is worth the price of admission, and so is Samuel L Jackson, who seems to be having a good time reprising his role from Unbreakable. Sadly I have to give this film three out of five stars. Strong directing and acting make the film a solid one to watch, but a weak and redundant story with clunky dialogue makes this a disappointing conclusion.

Have you seen Glass? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!