M. Night Shyamalan has had a full career in his 20+ plus years in Hollywood. From being the proclaimed "Next Spielberg." to delivering a few misfires to being fully hated to triumphant again, Glass deserved to be Shyamalan's victory lap. After all the disparaging years making films like Avatar: the Last Airbender and After Earth, Shyamalan seemed to get his mojo back with Split. Tying it together to Unbreakable, one of his most beloved films, was one of the most brilliant twists Shyamalan had delivered to his audiences. Glass was the culmination of the full journey, and the result is...surprisingly average.
You would have thought M Night had learned something about tying up screenplays well from all of his flops. He leaves us with a dialogue-heavy superhero flick, which is nothing like I wanted. Part of the Unbreakable thrived before the modern era of Superhero movies because of the mystery element. It didn't need flashy effects or a high budget to deliver the most fascinating superhero film to that point. Glass can't decide what genre is really is. It borders on drama and mystery but fails to deliver the thrills that Split offered, or the intrigue Unbreakable gave audiences. The acting performances of James McAvoy is a marvel. McAvoy seemed more confident in his role of the Kevin Wendell Crumb and his 24 personalities this time around. The result was far less laughable and offensive that Split, which gave antiquated, stigmatic views on being frightened of individuals with mental health issues. M. Night has obviously done more research into the mental health field, as the foil of Sarah Paulson's Dr. Ellie Staple had the viewer questioning what they had seen with solid backing and research into delusions. Samuel Jackson shined in the title role of Elijah Glass, as the film focused more on him rather than Bruce Willis's David Dunn. Jackson thrived in one of the least traditional roles and the most range a director has ever given him in Mr. Glass. He didn't even use the word motherfucker! Bruce Willis was somewhat a shell of his former self, and the role felt more like a cameo than a drawn-out role. Watching the film has me trying to remember the time when this bald, bland man was an interesting star.
The hardest part of Glass was the 129-minute run time. It is not a particularly long film, but holy hell did it feel like it! The film had multiple times where it just could have ended, and the story would have made sense. Instead, Shyamalan continued to drag the story as he took the viewer through one more twist and one more turn. The only problem was that none of them were mind-boggling to this future. The film felt redundant with its monologs about the nature of superheroes. The worst part was that it was self-aware with a notation in the dialogue about monologuing villains. Did they listen to Syndrome in The Incredibles?
Glass would have been a phenomenal film...had it been made 15 years earlier. With the distorted perception of superhero films embedded in everyone's minds, a lack of action is really disheartening and dull. There were times where the film had me engrossed, and then eventually lost me in the lulls of it. Often, I complain about superhero films not having enough heart, drama, and consequence. What I do not need is a whole, genre-lacking film full of it. It is time to finally accept Shyamalan as a sub-par director who had a pretty damn good run years ago. He is pseudo-intellectual who's imagery and twists are no longer interesting. For me, he can no longer rest on those laurels of the late 90s/early 2000s and I'm not sure his next film will be getting my view in the theaters.
Grade: (5.5/10)
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