Glass

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan

Minutes: 129 

Year: 2019

Score: 7.27

Release: Universal Pictures

Let’s try a complement sandwich for this one. James McAvoy is incredible in this film. Split is better. It is nice to see a quality mid-range budget action/superhero film.

From UPHE.com:  

M. Night Shyamalan brings together two of his standout original films—Unbreakable and Split— in this explosive comic book thriller. Elijah Price, also known as Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), finds David Dunn (Bruce Willis) pursuing Kevin Wendell Crumb’s superhuman figure, The Beast (James McAvoy), in a series of escalating encounters. Price, armed with secrets critical to both men, emerges as a shadowy orchestrator.

Before watching Glass I revisited Unbreakable for this first time in about 15 years and I can gladly report that Shyamalan is a much better filmmaker now than he was then. This is not to say Unbreakable is not an enjoyable film, but he was using his Sixth Sense money to stretch his legs as a filmmaker. It is also clear that he was a huge fan of David Fincher as many of his camera movements mimic those of Fincher.

I also watched Split for the first time and this really hamstrung Glass for me because Split rests upon one of the finest performances of the modern age. I’ve always been keen on James McAvoy, especially after Wanted so I cannot believe that I waited to watch Split, it is possible that I learned that it was a sleeper sequel to Unbreakable, so I put it on the back burner.

The problem with Glass is that there are too many scenes that don’t focus on McAvoy’s Beast. Samuel L. Jackson is superb, Bruce Willis is present, and Sarah Paulson is incredible. But I only wanted to see McAvoy seamlessly bouncing between characters. The preview for Glass doesn’t really leave too much meat on the bones of the feature so maybe skip that if you are curious to see the film.

What is very impressive about the film is that it was made on the, comparatively, shoe-string budget of $20 million. This is a lot of money until you compare it to, say, Captain America: Winter Soldier’s $177 million. I use Winter Soldier as it is a modern sequel. But, the difference between the budget is worth consideration because Glass could have undoubtedly been a bigger film with the extra cash, but it still functions well as is.

The release is pretty well stacked with special features with the cornerstone being the conversation between McAvoy and Shyamalan. The rest round out another detailed release of if Shyamalan film and will add to your understanding of why films like this matter in an over saturated superhero market.

Special Features:

• Alternate Opening
• Deleted Scenes
• The Collection of Main Characters
• A Conversation with James McAvoy and M. Night Shyamalan
• Bringing the Team Back Together
• David Dunn vs. The Beast
• Glass Decoded
• Breaking Glass: The Stunts
• Connecting the Glass Universe
• M. Night Shyamalan: Behind the Lens
• The Sound of Glass
• Enhancing the Spectacle
• Raven Hill Memorial
• Night Vision

Director: 7 – Cinematography: 5 – Edit: 6 – Parity: 8 – Main performance: 10 – Else performance: 6 – Score: 6 – Sound: 7 – Story: 6 – Script: 10 – Effects: 9 – Design: 5 – Costumes: 8 – Keeps interest: 9 – Lasting: 5