Film Review - Glass (2019)

Glass is the new film written and directed by M Night Shyamalan and is the continuation of both Unbreakable and Split, the story here sees David Dunn (Bruce Willis) hunting the Horde (James McAvoy) but after a confrontation they find themselves in a mental hospital run by Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) and also housing none other than Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson) and you should never underestimate the mastermind.

Glass was my 2nd most anticipated movie of 2019 (the top spot goes to Dragon Ball Super: Broly) as I thought Unbreakable was a very solid film and I absolutely loved Split in 2017 and the way Night used the tropes of a horror comic to tell the origin story of a supervillain I thought it was brilliant and now all 3 characters are together in one movie could it deliver the goods or shatter like a piece of Glass on the floor.

Sadly and it is very sad to say but this movie is a huge disappointment for me but before I delve into that I want to delve into what I did like and at the top of that list is Mr James McAvoy he hasn’t missed a beat since playing the Horde in Split and every time he was on screen playing the part I was grinning from ear to ear especially when he was playing Hedwig the little boy personality with the lisp.

And also I liked Bruce Willis as David Dunn he brings a world weary sense to the character and it felt like a logical continuation of his character from Unbreakable and the relationship he has with his son (Spencer Treat Clark) is quite nice as well.

But where this movie really shatters into glass shards on the floor is the screenplay, both Unbreakable and Split the 2 previous entries in this trilogy had a very clear sense of direction to them, characters that drove their stories and the overall storytelling was very clean and concise with the kind of twist ending that not only would make Shyamalan a household name but when done well would reward multiple viewings to try and find the clues that lead you down the path to his big twist/reveal.

Here it feels like there are at least 3 or 4 bullet point story ideas that Night had for this movie and he decided to mash them all together in this one film and there are times where it feels like your careening from one story point to the next with no sense of direction, story cohesion and structure and at times there are very choppy edits that make it look like some key scenes were removed in editing and when you do get to the ending it feels all the more unsatisfying because there’s no clear sense like in Split that takes you to that point where you think you’ve watched one thing when really your watching the other and it feels so satisfying.

But here I just sat there thinking “What the Hell” and also a lot of the scenes in the hospital feel far longer than they should due to (and I say this with a lead filled heart) Ms Paulson’s performances, this lady is someone I have adored on film and have never seen put a foot on wrong in a movie but here she does I’m afraid and try as she might she can’t make Shyamalan’s dialogue work and it carries this leaden feel that drags down the scenes where she exposits a lot of dialogue and I can’t help but feel someone else who could make that dialogue work would’ve been a better choice in the role.

And so that was my review of Glass and what a letdown this movie was I didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as Unbreakable or Split and coming off the heels of How to Train your Dragon 3 which was a good 3rd entry in a trilogy this feels worse all the more but if you liked Unbreakable and/or Split or Both films then I still urge you to go and see it for yourself, 1.5 out of 5.