January 21st, 2019
GLASS - REVIEW
Rated PG-13: For Violence Including Some Bloody Images, Thematic Elements, and Language
Stars: James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sarah Paulson, Spence Treat Clark, and Charlayne Woodard
Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan
Universal Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, Blumhouse Productions
Glass is the newest film from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (Unbreakable, Split) and is about David Dunn who uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, A disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities. When M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable came out in 2000, it wasn't truly appreciated as much than as it is now. I believe that this is mainly due to the film's slow pace and it's abrupt lackluster ending. With that being said, critics and audiences alike were not too pleased with Shyamalan's second project following The Sixth Sense. After Shyamalan directed Unbreakable and Signs, he went on to make some misfires like The Happening, After Earth, and of course The Last Airbender. In 2015 when there were films like Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Jurassic World, Ant-Man, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens; M. Night Shyamalan presented his next project to his fans - - The Visit, which was basically a letter to his fans declaring that he was back. After The Visit in 2015, Shyamalan then presented his next picture called Split (which was actually a sequel to Unbreakable) released in 2017. Fans were thrilled when the movie was released as they wanted M. Night Shyamalan to continue the Unbreakable story. After Split, Shyamalan announced that he was going to make another sequel to Unbreakable and Split which would become the third film in the Trilogy called Glass.
I was really excited for Glass especially knowing the cult following of Unbreakable and the surprise sequel Split. After going to see this movie, I have to say that it did not exactly meet all of my expectations. Let me start of with the performances. James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, and Samuel L. Jackson were all great in their roles as The Beast (+23 other personalities), David Dunn, and Elijah Prince aka Mr. Glass. Sarah Paulson was pretty good, Anya Taylor-Joy was great again like she was in Split, and Spence Treat Clark gave another terrific performance as he did in Unbreakable. The directing by M. Night Shyamalan was good, but not great. The cinematography was great, and I know some people thought that the cinematography could have been better, but in my opinion I thought that it was possibly even better than the Unbreakable and Split's cinematography. The first and second act of Glass were great; however, I felt some of the scenes in the second act were a bit too long. But... when it comes to the third act, this is when the movie becomes controversial for me as was the case in Unbreakable's final scene. For me, this was something that I had to think about as to whether I liked the third act or whether I thought it negatively impacted the movie. I did enjoy elements of the final act; however, if M. Night Shyamalan were to make some changes regarding aspects of the last 25 minutes of the film, then I would have probably liked it as much as the first two acts. However, I do feel that in about years from now Glass itself will possibly be appreciated more than it is now. Did I enjoy most aspects to Glass? Yes, I did. Do I feel like some aspects could have been switched around? Yes. Overall, I think that Glass is decent movie.
I was really excited for Glass especially knowing the cult following of Unbreakable and the surprise sequel Split. After going to see this movie, I have to say that it did not exactly meet all of my expectations. Let me start of with the performances. James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, and Samuel L. Jackson were all great in their roles as The Beast (+23 other personalities), David Dunn, and Elijah Prince aka Mr. Glass. Sarah Paulson was pretty good, Anya Taylor-Joy was great again like she was in Split, and Spence Treat Clark gave another terrific performance as he did in Unbreakable. The directing by M. Night Shyamalan was good, but not great. The cinematography was great, and I know some people thought that the cinematography could have been better, but in my opinion I thought that it was possibly even better than the Unbreakable and Split's cinematography. The first and second act of Glass were great; however, I felt some of the scenes in the second act were a bit too long. But... when it comes to the third act, this is when the movie becomes controversial for me as was the case in Unbreakable's final scene. For me, this was something that I had to think about as to whether I liked the third act or whether I thought it negatively impacted the movie. I did enjoy elements of the final act; however, if M. Night Shyamalan were to make some changes regarding aspects of the last 25 minutes of the film, then I would have probably liked it as much as the first two acts. However, I do feel that in about years from now Glass itself will possibly be appreciated more than it is now. Did I enjoy most aspects to Glass? Yes, I did. Do I feel like some aspects could have been switched around? Yes. Overall, I think that Glass is decent movie.
Grade: B-