REVIEW: The "Glass" Is Half-Full and Half-Empty

Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan had arguably preceded filmmaker Christopher Nolan, as well as Marvel Studios, in redefining what a comic-book-inspired movie could be when he made Unbreakable in 2000. The film works brilliantly as its own standalone story, but Shyamalan surprised audiences and critics in early 2017 when it was revealed that his psychological thriller Split was set in the same cinematic universe as Unbreakable. Several weeks later, he posted on Twitter that his next feature would have characters from both films, and that the title (Glass) would be named after the nickname of Samuel L. Jackson's character from the former.

Shaymalan had initially conceived a three-act story, with (in a way) each respective film as follows:

Act 1) Unbreakable tells the origin stories of security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the sole survivor of a train crash, and crippled comic-book seller Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who believes that superheroes walk the earth. There is also key insight into supporting characters like Elijah's mother (Charlayne Woodard), who's had to deal with his disability since his birth, and David's son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), who aspires his father to be more than ordinary.

Act 2) Split tells the origins of one Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), a victim of multiple-personality disorder (including a monster of a figure) as the result of an abusive mother, and kidnapped victim Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy), who becomes, perhaps, the only key to unlocking Kevin's true identity. 

Sarah Paulson

Act 3) Glass brings all these characters together, this time with Dunn, Crumb and Price brought to a psychiatric hospital and "supervised" under the mysterious Dr. Ellie Stapler (Sarah Paulson), who tries to convince them (and their friends or relatives) that their "abilities" (and comic book notions, in general) are a delusion, and that "we aren't meant to have this much power." Until Price plots against Stapler, by pitting Dunn and Crumb against each other (one, by teaming up with Crumb/The Beast), and for the world to see that superheroes really do exist.

Unlike most comic-book films that rely on spectacle, Shyamalan's films here are very character-driven. The film starts strong, with subplots involving abducted teenage girls in an abandoned warehouse, Dunn's home security business (in which Joseph serves as his nightwing, if you will), and Casey readjusting to life.

The way Shamaylan tries to balance all of these film worlds is tricky. Like the opening stylized credits featuring cracked glass, things are held together well in some places. Being a Blumhouse film production (the same team that backed up Get Out, Halloween, and Split), some of these other impressive stylistic choices include neon sections at comic-book stores, saying "Heroes" and "Villains." McAvoy steals the show, reminding us how versatile an actor he is with various personalities. There are also a lot of intriguing ideas that cleverly play with comic book tropes (including implied social cults that try to keep the world from knowing the existence of superheroes, and a shocking revelation that genuinely brings all the characters together), some truly cinematic moments (David putting on his poncho), and a mind-blowing ending.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlayne Woodard

Spencer Treat Clark

Other places, these different worlds crack and don't seem to know which direction they need to go, or are going in. There's no denying this film has a lot going for it. Plus, it's very character-driven over spectacle-driven. (More appropriately, the story and character dynamics are the spectacle, something that Marvel and Nolan also do very well.) It's just that Glass feels meandering at times, or at least contained (as Stapler constantly tries to do) and more focused on certain characters (like Kevin) and less on balancing all worlds and those they impact. The movie is called Glass, after all.

I personally would have hoped to see Casey and David (and Joseph and Mrs. Price, maybe) team up to fight the Beast, and to see how Elijah serves as the orchestrator again. That would've been a more engrossing opportunity that keeping them in a psychiatric ward. As the poster's slogan says, "You cannot contain what you are."