'Glass' A Review

Glass is a superhero thriller the completion of the M. Night Shyamalan trilogy preceded by Unbreakable, and Split. The Horde(James McAvoy) has captured four cheerleaders and David Dunn(Bruce Willis) and his son Joseph(Spencer Treat Clark) are on his trail. When the two come into confrontation the cops and psychiatrist Dr. Staple(Sarah Paulson) capture them. They are locked up in a mental institution along with Mr. Glass(Samuel L. Jackson). Dr. Staple attempts to convince them they are not superhuman beings and are merely suffering various delusions. The three conspire to break out and show the world that they are real.

The titular character played by Jackson is one of the most compelling but is given exceedingly little to do spending the majority of the run time in a catatonic state. When Jackson is actually allowed to act he gives a couple tantalizing monologues but is starkly underutilized. Willis continues his decade long streak of minimal to no effort in the acting department, he is so vacant and reserved he is barely doing anything. McAvoy continues his energetic versatile performance from Split but the story is so much more muddled and disparate it isn't as effective as the first go-around. Paulson is criminally used, her sole purpose is as a conduit for exposition. The cast is stacked with some incredible actors but they are given little coherent to actually do, the story is more concerned with its own convoluted machinations than investigating the interesting characters that inhabit it.

Visually the film has some interesting set-piece moments but, as with the narrative, has little coherence. There is no universal color palate like there is in some of Shyamalan's earlier more successful work and as a result the cinematography is ultimately relatively pedestrian. There are a number of POV shots from various characters, which is at least, kind of unique, but they are relatively unmotivated and happen so often their impact fails.

There are some intriguing moments, some funny moments, and it is pleasing to see the various characters again but after the promising Split this seems to be unfortunately a return to form for Shyamalan's later work- muddy, boring, and clueless. For a filmmaker who began with such success and promise who then spent a deserved time in the cinematic dog house its kind of astonishing who colossal a missed opportunity Glass turned out to be.

Stream It.