Unbreakable trilogy. Expectations aside, I liked Glass quite a bit (I’ve seen it twice) and I look forward to future viewings where I watch Unbreakable (one of my three favorite superhero movies ever), Split (which I’ve grown to appreciate after a second viewing), and Glass all in a row. Glass makes some head-scratching choices and I can easily understand why anyone (M. Night Shyamalan fan or not) would be disappointed, thinks it ruins what came before, it or feels it’s just outright bad.
Aliens-style second climax in the Osaka Tower. It’s cool to me that Shyamalan wants to keep this universe small and modest.
• The reveal of how Elijah/Mr. Glass plays into Kevin/The Beast’s family history and more so Kevin’s reaction to it was satisfying. I also thought the wrap up for their characters was handled well unlike David Dunn, but we’ll get to that later.
• Glass has a lot of ideas and doesn’t stick to any single one for very long. But for however long the movie covers them I found the themes often fascinating. Here are three I picked up (this is all subjective of course...I’m not sure the movie is saying these for sure):
The Bad
• The reveal of how Elijah/Mr. Glass plays into Kevin/The Beast’s family history and more so Kevin’s reaction to it was satisfying. I also thought the wrap up for their characters was handled well unlike David Dunn, but we’ll get to that later.
• Glass has a lot of ideas and doesn’t stick to any single one for very long. But for however long the movie covers them I found the themes often fascinating. Here are three I picked up (this is all subjective of course...I’m not sure the movie is saying these for sure):
- For “good” people (e.g. David Dunn) to realize their potential fully and not limit it for themselves. After the events of Unbreakable, you would think he’d be a full-fledged superhero, but he relegated himself to a street-level vigilante. I think it’s also a meta-commentary on how Shyamalan feels about his comeback, starting with The Visit. It’s like that movie and Split are him succeeding but reigning his full Shyamalan-ness in a bit to be more palatable. In Glass, he’s going full Shyamalan again, whether you like it or not.
- Retaining a sense of awe and wonder, here represented by comic books and being a fan of them. I don’t think it’s a mistake that Sarah Paulson sounds like an idiot when she’s criticizing the other characters for indulging in their superhero fantasies. I think that’s the movie saying that these people are wet blankets and it’s wrong for them to be lecturing others to grow up.
- Lastly, I think the movie is commenting on gaslighting, which is so prevalent nowadays that unfortunately we are numb to it. Paulson’s character is wrong, she knows she’s wrong, everyone else knows she’s wrong, but she is more willful in her point of view than the characters who oppose it.
The Bad
Heat ended with Diane Venora and Amy Brenneman going to Cheesecake Factory to debrief. Also, how in the fuck do you expect me to believe that a serial killer’s kinda girlfriend, a terrorist’s mom and a hero’s dad are suddenly chummy even if they share a common bond?
The Ugly
• Glass is tougher to defend when I think about how Shyamalan wants me to sympathize with a terrorist (“Mr. Glass”) and a serial killer (“The Horde”). I don’t want them to realize their potential if they must harm others to do it. I mean, that’s still a bad thing, right? The movie doesn’t need to moralize but also, they shouldn’t be on equal ground for audience sympathy as the pahlawan (David Dunn). I think this is exacerbated in Glass because Sarah Paulson’s character is basically the biggest bad, like Brian Cox’s character was in X2: X-Men United. Her whole subplot complicates the Unbreakable series in some good ways, but also diminishes the arcs and interplay between the three main characters.
• Mrs. Price and Casey are basically enablers to the villains. Mrs. Price treats all the violence caused by Elijah like its collateral damage and Casey’s Beauty and the Beast thing with Kevin is weird considering he’s a serial killer who murders young girls. I get that he has benevolent personalities too, but, um...shouldn’t his actions outweigh his intent where she would at least want to stay away from him?
In closing, you can see I like many aspects of Glass and there are others that drive me crazy. All in all, I like the movie and see it as a fascinating entry in a trilogy I’ve grown very fond of over the years. It’s a property I get really dorky about which happens less often for me lately and I really love it when it occurs - warts and all. Back in the day, I used to go to the megaplex on opening night with my friends for the new blockbuster movie and we’d go to IHOP afterwards to discuss it. I wish Glass came out in 2003. It’s a great IHOP movie.
What did you think of Glass? Leave a comment below and mark SPOILER when spoiling.
The Ugly
• Mrs. Price and Casey are basically enablers to the villains. Mrs. Price treats all the violence caused by Elijah like its collateral damage and Casey’s Beauty and the Beast thing with Kevin is weird considering he’s a serial killer who murders young girls. I get that he has benevolent personalities too, but, um...shouldn’t his actions outweigh his intent where she would at least want to stay away from him?
In closing, you can see I like many aspects of Glass and there are others that drive me crazy. All in all, I like the movie and see it as a fascinating entry in a trilogy I’ve grown very fond of over the years. It’s a property I get really dorky about which happens less often for me lately and I really love it when it occurs - warts and all. Back in the day, I used to go to the megaplex on opening night with my friends for the new blockbuster movie and we’d go to IHOP afterwards to discuss it. I wish Glass came out in 2003. It’s a great IHOP movie.
What did you think of Glass? Leave a comment below and mark SPOILER when spoiling.
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