I haven't had a chance to see the movie Glass yet (I still need to watch the movie Split, which precedes it), but my friend (who prefers to be Anonymous) was happy to provide his thoughts:
When I first saw M. Night Shyalaman’s Unbreakable in the theaters in 2000, I was stunned that such a film had even been made.
As another reviewer wrote, the year 2000 was five years away from Nolan’s brilliant Batman Begins and eight years away from Favreau’s Iron Man, the film that would perfectly kick off the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In the year 2000, superhero films had more of a connection to Adam West’s Batman series on TV, as Joel Schumacher had successfully ended the Batman film series with extra camp by making the franchise-killing Batman & Robin (shield your eyes!) in 1997.
Worse, Unbreakable was met with the nearly inevitable “sophomore slump” critique following Shyalaman’s amazing first film, The Sixth Sense. Loud complaints were made about Unbreakable’s dragging plot, less than exciting actions scenes, and that ridiculous ending with text of how the film ends. (Sure, it’s kind of a spoiler, but it’s a common complaint about the film.)
Audiences wanted a sad Bruce Willis with occasional supernatural events, and instead they got a sad Bruce Willis with occasional superheroic events.
But I got it. Right between the eyes.
As a lifelong comic book fan, I could see exactly what Shyalaman was doing and why he was doing it. It was an age-old question by comic book fans – could superheroes exist in the “real world” and, if they did, how would they do what superheroes (and supervillains) do?
Unbreakable and its semi-sequel, 2016’s Split, strive to answer this question in a slow and deliberate way, so it’s understandable why some folks (non-comic book fans) roll their eyes when they see these films or when people like me sing their praises.
So with Glass, the likely final installment of series, Shyalaman brings the characters together as he continues to explore this question. As Chuck makes it clear that his blog is a no spoiler zone, I’ll skip the third act of Glass that takes the viewer into other plotlines, but, simply put, if you liked Unbreakable and Split, you’ll like Glass. If you didn’t like either film, you won’t like Glass. More importantly, don’t see Glass without seeing Unbreakable and Split, or you’ll miss out of some of the subtler plotlines.
I always thought Unbreakable would have been followed by a successful TV series. We would learn how Willis’ character, who could have been played by Jerry Doyle, Babylon 5’s security chief, made his way as a superhero in the reality and we could have learned more about how this new world of superheroes and villains, but the series never happened. Doyle died in 2016 and Split’s connections to Unbreakable aren’t revealed until the end of the film.
I read that Shyalaman put up his own money to make Glass and it is a well-made film. Shyalaman uses his trademark color schemes to reinforce the nature of his characters and there are plenty of continuous shots that follow the characters as the plot progresses.
I enjoyed Glass, but I also know most folks won’t, which is too bad but understandable. At a time when Marvel’s mad god Thanos is a household name, it’s too bad that Shyalman’s much smaller superhero universe looks, well, small and not that exciting.
But I still love it.
