The following review makes reference to the 2019 film Glass, and does not contain spoilers of any type.

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Year: 2019 Category: Superhero, Thriller. Director: M. Night Shyamalan. Cast: James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sarah Paulson, Spencer Treat Clark, Luke Kirby.

Plot

David Dunn tries to evade the police while he delivers justice in the streets of Philadelphia. His special talents place him in collision with The Beast, a psychopath who has superhuman strength and multiple personalities.

Opinion

After the Unbreakable was released, M. Night Shyamalan in 2016 unexpectedly and very surprisingly decided to make Split into a sequel, creating a new universe about superhero more realistic than those shown by Marvel or DC. All this forced M. Night Shyamalan to continue with the elaboration of his universe and give the audience an end, in this way Glass was born, which tries to unite the characters of Unbreakable and Split in the same story, confronted with each other due to their extraordinary nature but at the same time ruled by opposite conditions.

The hero, David Dunn, called The Overseer by the public, is unbreakable, does not get sick, does not feel weakness and is very strong, but he has a weakness: water. He represents the antithesis of Elijah Price, who calls himself Mr. Glass, who suffers from Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, making his bones practically glass, and suffering constant fractures, however, has a superior intelligence. Finally, Kevin Wendell Crumb appears, that because he suffers from dissociative identity disorder has multiple different personalities within him, and that as a whole they call themselves The Horde; which includes the personality called The Beast, a kind of cannibalistic superhuman whose main philosophy is to separate the pure, those who have suffered, and the impure, those who have not suffered, so his association with Mr. Glass and his confrontation with The Overseer is inevitable.

The film begins showing David Dunn, who confronts minor criminals with the technical support of his son Joseph, who is now an adult. Successively the film shows how several personalities of The Horde harass 4 cheerleaders who he has kidnapped in an abandoned building just waiting for The Beast to sacrifice them. Joseph, who studies the patterns in which The Horde has acted recently, indicates to his father the zone where the cheerleaders could be kidnapped, reason why David goes there, and when he finds in the way to Hedwig, the child personality of The Horde, he discovers where the cheerleaders are, whom he tries to help but The Beast arrives just in time to prevent it, generating a confrontation between The Overseer and The Beast, which concludes in the retention of both in an institution for demential criminals, where Elijah Price, Mr. Glass, who remains in a drug-induced state, is being detained. There Dr. Ellie Staple, a psychiatrist specializing in delusions of grandeur, tries through skeptical methods to make David, Kevin, and Elijah discover the reality of their condition, not as superhumans, but as people with mental problems, making them doubt themselves and their abilities.

The movie has good things, but unfortunately it also has some flaws. From the point of view of the staging, of photography, I must say that it is inferior to its predecessors, however, the work is not bad, it is acceptably good. The introduction of each character is great, and the confrontations are exactly what the audience expected.

However, M. Night Shyamalan is wrong in several aspects, the first is the inclusion of the character Casey Cooke, the teenager who was kidnapped by The Horde in Split, to whom he grants a participation that was simply not necessary, which is a hindrance for the development of the story, and not because of the actress Anya Taylor-Joy but because her role here is not important.

Shyamalan's next mistake occurs near the end, the last 20 minutes are a disaster according to my perception, and this is because the director decides not only include a surprise twist that changes everything, as he usually does in his other films, and neither two twists, but three twists!

Although the first twist is completely acceptable, and makes all the pieces fit in place, giving the viewer satisfaction, as it gives another point of view to the story but is perfectly consistent, according to my personal interpretation, the second twist not only is responsible for ruining this film but also the meaning of the trilogy, creating a more complex and elaborate hidden story that even moderately redeems the figure of the villain, Mr. Glass. The third twist is simply insufficient, the impact generated by the radical change in the conception of history introduced by Shyamalan makes his third twist, with which tries to satisfy the audience, a completely useless effort.

The performances are fine, Bruce Willis as David Dunn does an acceptable job, James McAvoy again as Kevin Wendell Crumb makes a wonderful performance playing his multiple personalities, especially The Beast, and on the other hand is Samuel L. Jackson, who like Willis returns to his role as Elijah Price after 19 years, and he does it very well. Spencer Treat Clark also returns to finish the story after almost two decades, the difference is that his character evolved from child to adult, so it is practically a new character. Anya Taylor-Joy receives the worst part, because her character is insubstantial on this occasion, everything she does is unsatisfactory although it is not her fault. Charlayne Woodard returns to play Elijah's mother again, and she does it well. Finally, Sarah Paulson is the new element, and although she does well in the first part of the film, the second twist introduced by Shyamalan ruins her character according to my perception.

In short, it is a good film, entertaining but far from perfection, it remains at the level of its predecessors, but although it has the confrontation expected by the audience, I feel that it is the weakest of the trilogy.

Trailer

Score

7/10

Good direction, good performances, a story that talks about believing in ourselves and that the extraordinary is possible, but that has some flaws in the script, such as the inclusion of unnecessary characters, incoherent twists, and the fact that the story depends totally on Unbreakable and Split, in which it puts all its bases. Although this film serves as a good ending to the trilogy, in turn, this does not have a good ending. I recommend it only to those who saw the previous films of the trilogy, the rest is not necessary.