The Setup
As you may very well know, Glass is the recently released film that serves as the final entry to M. Night Shyamalan’s superhero trilogy. Taking place shortly after the events of 2016’s Split and about 19 years after 2000’s Unbreakable (which makes a lot of sense). If you have seen these two films before and remember them, this movie will flow pretty naturally. Of course if you haven’t, you likely wouldn’t be seeing this film. The first two in this series do very well at remaining good films on their own account, but Glass was never meant to stand on its own.
The Technicals
While this film does require you to have seen the first two films to understand everything that is happening, that does not mean that it is not a well put together film. Bruce Willis continues to bring a fine performance as David Dunn, the reluctant hero who cannot be hurt and never asked for the powers he has been given. James McAvoy is very odd if you have no idea about his character and are for some reason seeing Glass before you have seen Split. I can get sucked into believing there are 24 different personalities living in him. And of course, Samuel L. Jackson delivers a wonderful performance as Mister Glass, the super-intelligent “villain” who takes comic books way too seriously. All supporting characters feel very real as well. Altogether, the acting is very well done (even if some of the reveals are obvious, but that’s not their fault). The visuals are where you would expect for a modern Shyamalan film as well as the audio. That is, dark and over-the-top.
Summation
Glass is what I would consider a good Shyamalan film. Granted, I haven’t really seen a lot of his films (I have done pretty well to avoid what I hear are his stinkers). And while it may not stand on its own, if you are a fan of Unbreakable and Split, this movie is an enjoyable finale and wraps up everything pretty nicely. At the same time, it leaves space for potential branching stories later on, without making it feel like there need to be more (a spot that can be difficult to hit these days).
