While Split was a bit of a departure, Glass returns to the roots of Unbreakable, which is one of my favourite movies of all time. It is contemplative, philosophical, and cerebral. These aren't movies about heroes fighting villains. They aren't the action spectacles we have come to expect as comic book movies have become dominant in the multiplexes. Glass, like Unbreakable before it, isn't a comic book movie in the vein of the Marvel films we see every few months. It is about comic books. I mean it's not about the stories told in the comic books, adapting the stories of characters in those books. It is about comic books themselves, about what they mean, why the hold their appeal, what is their power.
For me personally M. Night Shyamalan is all over the map as a film maker but with this trilogy he has found his calling. He tells a slowburn story, lets his characters grow and develop before our eyes, and most successfully pulls off his signature move. He is known for his "twists", most often gimmicky but in this series they are masterful. Glass takes this to the next level. He takes all that we saw before in these films and makes us see it all differently.
And also like Unbreakable before it, Glass will not be for everyone. In their analytical pursuit and their focus on inner meaning over outer action the movies aren't what mainstream audiences are comfortable with or looking for. In their overt symbolism and almost meta approach to story telling they are challenging for the film critic crowd. But for someone who loved Unbreakable in all its fascinating labour, Glass is exactly what I was looking for. It gave me so much to chew on and so much to return to as I go through this looking glass again and again.
Kudos to a truly strong cast. Once again McAvoy stuns in his masterful representation of all Kevin's personalities giving them true humanity and not just playing a gimmick. Anya Taylor Joy is also strong playing a complicated character who does some truly difficult things. Sarah Paulson is strong playing her character who the story doesn't make it easy to play but she pulls it off brilliantly. And I was also quite impressed with Charlayne Woodard's delicious turn as Jackson's mother. But for me the real star is the title character. Jackson gets to play many great characters but Elijah Price might be the best of them.
Glass doesn't take the easy way by following convention on what we would expect in a final film in a "superhero" trilogy. It takes a much more challenging route which includes a plot that makes us question what we are seeing and why we are seeing it. There were big parts in the middle that challenged my suspension of disbelief, until the story wound its way to the explanation and things started to make sense.
And I think for me that was what made the payoff in Glass so exceptionally satisfying for me. I felt like the story not only took me to places I didn't expect but affirmed so much that makes real sense. The fact that understanding truth often comes through fantastic story telling is a beautiful and revelatory concept. And Glass is a celebration of all that fantastic truth and is truly satisfying.
Glass
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor Joy, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard, Luke Kirby
Writer/Director: M Night Shyamalan
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