Image courtesy of wallpapercave.com
Following my revisits of Unbreakable and Split, we now come to the movie that both of those have been building towards, and the review to accompany it where I hinted at something bigger to come in those reviews. Now, we get to that something bigger: The conclusion to the Eastrail 177 Trilogy, and that is Glass.
Three weeks after the events of Split, David Dunn has been tracking down Kevin Wendell Crumb (who had been dubbed “The Horde” by the media because of his multiple personalities). After their encounter, David and Kevin are sent to a facility run by a psychiatrist trying to convince them that they are regular people who merely claim to be superhuman. Not only that, but they happen to be in the same facility as David’s nemesis, Elijah Price, also known as “Mr. Glass.” David knows that Elijah has a plan to prove that people like them really do exist, and it may just involve him having some help. David has to stop them before they can do any real damage, but Elijah might just know something that ties all of them together...
What Worked: First of all, the cast is very good here, even if it’s mostly a reunion.
Reprising their roles from Unbreakable are Bruce Willis as David Dunn, Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, Spencer Treat Clark as David’s now-adult son Joseph, and Charlayne Woodard as Elijah’s Mom.
Reprising their roles from Split are James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke (the “final girl”*, so to speak).
So the question is… does this crossover work? Yes. They’re all really good here, and they do work off of each other very well. The pre-established dynamics in their relationships (David’s relationships with Elijah and Joseph, Elijah’s relationship with his Mom, and Kevin’s relationship with Casey) are given a nice continuation here, and it feels like a natural narrative flow, even up to the resolution. The best one, though, is the one that sells the movie: Kevin and Elijah. When they finally meet, it’s both genuinely chilling and so much fun to watch. Jackson and McAvoy’s team-up is fantastic in this movie, and they have the best performances. You even get to see more personality (no pun intended) from Kevin.
M. Night Shyamalan himself does make a cameo. For those who remember from the Unbreakable review when I said to keep his cameo from that movie in mind for when you get to this one, you’ll realize it applied to Split as well once you discover the first of several shocking revelations that this movie has to offer, and that one is in the first few minutes.
Speaking of M. Night Shyamalan, his writing this time around is very good… for the most part. There were moments that I really liked where they’re in the facility, and it turns out they know what makes each of them tick. I thought that was very clever. There was also a twist in this movie (not the main one; there’s several leading up to it) that was very good. It’s one of those “full circle” type moments in a trilogy or franchise that ties back to a key moment from the first movie, which is another thing I appreciate when movies go the extra mile to do. This one caught me by surprise with how well done it was, and it ties all three men together in a way that I did not expect. I’ll just say this: Elijah is a mastermind for a reason. If you thought he was evil in Unbreakable, just wait until you see him in this movie.
M. Night Shyamalan’s direction here, while not quite as great as it was in Unbreakable, is still as solid as it was in Split. He even brings over a couple more collaborators from Split: Michael Gioulakis as the cinematographer and West Dylan Thordsen as the composer. Because of this, it’s just as well-shot, and the score is just as eerie, especially in the opening. However, the score is also really good in the dramatic scenes.
What Didn’t Work: The one issue I had character-wise is actually the new addition: Dr. Ellie Staple, the psychiatrist, played by Sarah Paulson. Her performance is good, but the character could have been written better.
The issues with the writing come mostly in the third act. As mentioned before, there are several twists in this movie. The first one was really good, and the main one was decent. The ones in between are okay, but they felt like they belonged in a different movie. Here, it’s just all over the place. They were interesting, but still excessive. If it stuck to those two twists, it would have flowed better.
While those are my main issues, there is something that is very divisive and I completely understand why: The finale. I personally thought it could have been better, but as it was, it was okay. The very end of the movie (the main twist) was fine, though.
Overall: Glass is a decent ending to a trilogy, and while it has a few cracks here and there, the movie doesn’t completely shatter because of them. It’s still very entertaining in spite of its flaws. It’s very well shot and has an excellent score to accompany it. It also has some great performances, especially from Samuel L. Jackson and James McAvoy, and a great resolution to the whole story that brought everyone together, thus bringing the Eastrail 177 Trilogy to a pretty satisfying close. It doesn’t quite stick the landing in terms of trilogies (the next one I’ll be covering excels at that), but as far as unconventional ones go, I’m ultimately glad that we have something like this.
*A trope commonly seen in horror movies, it applied to thrillers as well with Split.