Film: Glass

GENRE: Drama

RATING: PG-13 for violence, language & thematic elements
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 9 minutes

STARRING: James McAvoy (Split, Atonement, X-Men: First Class)

Bruce Willis (Die Hard, Sixth Sense), Samuel L Jackson (Unbreakable)

DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan (Split, Unbreakable, Sixth Sense)

WRITER: Shyamalan (Signs, The Village, The Visit, Unbreakable, Split)

PLOT: David Dunn, Elijah Price and Kevin Wendell Crumb all end up in the same institution.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Loved Unbreakable, just okay with Split.

STORY STUFF: In my opinion, Shyamalan is back. While the critics are having a hey-day bashing the filmmaker and making ‘glass half empty’ quips, I think Shyamalan has made a solid conclusion to his trilogy. It’s not perfect. The pacing is slow (like Unbreakable). I will admit that it is a pretty slow burn but I’m fine with it as long as there is a good pay-off. And I think the pay-off was pretty awesome. Shyamalan loves twists and thankfully gives you some breadcrumbs to follow so it’s earned. There were a number of scenes I found myself scoffing at but later looked back and understood. A lot of time is spent on McAvoy’s character and I wish it was more evenly split between the three (pun intended). I will say, if you haven’t seen Unbreakable or Split, this will be a lot harder to enjoy. See those first, especially Unbreakable.

ACTING STUFF: Willis and Jackson seamlessly fall back into their roles. The stand-out of course is McAvoy who continues to impress with his quick-changing multiple personalities. I found Sarah Paulson (AHS, ACS, Ocean’s 8) annoying, but I think I was supposed to. When David Dunn’s son, Joseph, appears, I was impressed with the casting department. This guy looked exactly like the kid in Unbreakable. The eyes, the face. Then I realized it was the same actor, Spencer Treat Clark (Agents of Shield). Felt a bit foolish.   

ARTISTIC STUFF: I was surprised that the colour palette wasn’t played with more. Sure there is a lot of purple for Mr. Glass, but the tone shifts a bunch, especially at the end. I used to be more impressed with Shyamalan’s cinematography skills. There was nothing that grabbed me in this one though. I liked a lot of the music. Not much else artistically, which is a shame and downgrades the film a bit for me.

VERDICT: Three and half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like Unbreakable or Split or Shyamalan.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part