Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities.
I enjoyed M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs.” I did not care for “Unbreakable” or pretty much any other movie he’s made since, although I have to admit, James McAvoy made “Split” thoroughly entertaining. The issue with Shyamalan is that after his first three movies, he became known as the filmmaker who always had to end his movies with some sort of big reveal or twist and while I am not against a good surprising finale, with Shyamalan, it became his signature trademark. And the problem he created for himself, is that he tried to top each previous movie with an even bigger and more shocking reveal but as his films progressed, audiences quickly lost interest at the sometimes absurd conclusions the director presented to them and “Glass” is no exception, with the BIG reveal here probably being his most cumbersome to date.
The point in question here is that Shyamalan tries to humanize the superhero genre and that is his biggest mistake. With any good superhero flick, you have to go into the movie and suspend your disbelief, it is the only way you can thoroughly enjoy it. With superheroes being able to fly, having the ability to teleport to other dimensions, telekinesis, elemental control, and any other number of powers, you have to believe that they are capable of performing such deeds, otherwise, the film doesn’t work. With “Glass,” Shyamalan introduces characters that do indeed have abilities, although nowhere near Marvel or DC efficiency, and while they make for curious subject matters, they do not hold our interest for 129 minutes.
In 2000, Shyamalan made “Unbreakable,” with Bruce Willis and Samual L. Jackson and in that story, Willis played David Dunn, a security guard who survived a train crash and afterward, discovered he had superhuman strength and was able, simply by touching a person, to comprehend if they were good or bad. Jackson played Elijah Price, an art gallery owner who believed that he was the big villain in David’s story. Because of his abilities, he tried to convince David that he was the sort of person that comic book characters were based on and we discover that Elijah was the mastermind behind several terrorist attacks, including the train crash that David survived. In 2016, Shyamalan made “Split,” a supernatural thriller that introduced us to Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), a man with 24 distinct personalities, one of them called “The Beast,” and who was capable of superhuman abilities, much like David Dunn. As “Glass” begins, we discover that David, along with his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), prowl their local neighborhood, trying to track down and apprehend bad guys, leaving them for the police to deal with. David is now known as “The Overseer,” shrouded under a green, security poncho, which hides his identity. When Kevin kidnaps four teenage cheerleaders, it makes headline news and David unearths the location where the girls are being held captive and he manages to free them, but not before a confrontation with The Beast. Their fight spills out into the streets where the police are waiting for them and both men are apprehended and taken to a local mental institution.
Here, we are introduced to Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), the head of the institution. In talking with both David and Kevin separately, she tries to convince them that they are not superheroes but regular men who have been heavily influenced by the effects of movies, TV, and comic books. She informs them that she has exactly three days to convince them of this, otherwise, they will be put away and labeled crackpots for the rest of their lives. We discover that Elijah Price is also locked up at the institution and with all three men, she tries to unlock a traumatic moment from each of their lives where the need for their secret identity took over in order to help them survive. Naturally, with all three in the same facility, it is only a matter of time before Elijah plans a big escape along with Kevin, in the hopes that David will track them down to a very public place and confront them, where all three will be revealed, in front of the whole world, for the “superheroes” they really are.
“Glass” has a few interesting moments but it is James McAvoy, with his uncanny ability to switch personalities in a split second, that makes this movie watchable, but just barely. Both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are more subdued than Willis’ recent career stupor and while Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Spencer Treat Clark revitalize the movie whenever they are onscreen, sadly, they are not onscreen enough. Just like his previous efforts, Shyamalan introduces another BIG twist in the finale that by the time it is revealed, you find yourself totally disinterested and looking at your watch. This is also what I would refer to as Shyamalan’s “Return of the King,” just when you think the movie is over, it tricks you by saying “Not yet, there’s more,” and then shortly after, you think it’s over, again, but it just keeps coming back. Unfortunately, I doubt audiences will feel the same way.
In theaters Friday, January 18th
