Glass

When it comes to psychological thriller's, other than Alfred Hitchcock, M. Night Shyamalan is probably one of the better directors of that particular genre. He has given us some interesting ones which delve into the human psyche in the most original of ways. Certainly "Glass" isn't original only for it's a culmination of two other films by this director.

 

From "Unbreakable" 2000, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from "Split" '16 are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the 24 multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast. Following the conclusion of "Split", "Glass" finds Dunn pursuing Crumb's superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.

 

Others to round out the cast are Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellie Staple, Spencer Treat Clark as Joseph Dunn, David's son, Charlayne Woodard as Mrs. Price, Elijah's mother, Luke Kirby as Pierce, Adam David Thompson as Daryl and M. Night Shyamalan as Jai, security guard.

 

As aforementioned, this was directed with intense action by M. Night Shyamalan ("Praying with Anger" '92, "Wide Awake" '98, "The Sixth Sense" '99, "Unbreakable" 2000, "Signs" '02, "The Village" '04, "Lady in the Water" '06, "The Happening" '08, "The Last Airbender" '10, "After Earth" '13, "The Visit" '15, "Split" '16) plus TV. This filmmaker brings out the immediacy of these characters through his actors to truly convey the intensity to the audience of the plight of the different characters. With this, he definitely doesn't let his audience down. If you like his brand of directing, his "Labor of Love" has been announced. It was also quirkily written by Shyamalan (the above resume plus "Stuart Little" '99), based on characters created by Shyamalan. Out of the trilogy, "Split was the far better film (writing, directing and acting), whereas "Unbreakable" was a yawner, unless I was just in a bad place at that time, and this culmination film was decent--an admirable attempt to tie up or connect the other two films, but it definitely became choppy and sloppy in the continuity. And it was a bit long-in-the-tooth--it could've easily been housed within a 2-hour running time, but after a while, it did pick up and suddenly became the film I was hoping for. The acting by Willis, Jackson, and especially McAvoy was solid. McAvoy, as in "Split" was simply mesmerizing in his role as Kevin. The way he could go from personality to personality within the same breath was stunning. He should've received an Oscar nod back in '16 for his role. And Shyamalan's directing his spot on--this is his true calling, but the writing, albeit a tough story to effectively connect, just needed polish.

 

If you're a Shyamalan fan, you will revel whether the writing is consummate or not, but even if one isn't, there's something for all here: action, suspense, eeriness and obscurity which are the trademark adjectives of Shyamalan's work. Definitely see this on the large which is also in a nifty IMAX format as well.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                         Rated: PG-13                                129mins.