First Take: Glass- I guess the bad guys are working together

Spoiler free as usual. Because I’d be broken in 94 places if I did spoil it.

SYNOPSIS: Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities.

It’s been nearly 20 years in the making for M. Night Shyamalan and his ‘Eastrail 177′ trilogy of films- after being declined the opportunity to make a sequel to Unbreakable back in 2000, and the subsequent success of 2017′s Split- which teased a return for the iconic rain mac of David Dunn- the long awaited finale has arrived. And… well, I think we all set our expectations a little bit too high.

Shyamalan writes and directs this one in a weird way- the first half is fantastic. Just pure brilliance from the man who brought us Signs, The Sixth Sense and many other films, but unfortunately the second half, including the film’s ending, leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a 2 hour 9 minute film after all, so naturally there are issues with the pacing, but it is shot incredibly well by Michael Gilouakis. Another big issue is the music- everybody knows the James Newton Howard theme that soundtracked the 2000 film that spawned this universe, but Shyamalan brought back West Thordson (the man behind the music of Split) to score the film, and it just doesn’t work.

But with the performances, this is really where Shyamalan’s near 20 year wait to make this film becomes worth the price of admission. James McAvoy returns from Split and kills it, playing 20 of the 24 different personalities in the way that only he can, but of course, we’ve waited a very long time to see ‘Unbreakable vs Beast’- and Bruce Willis is on fine form here in that regard. The whole cast- which includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Sarah Paulson, Spencer Treat Clark (the original actor who played Dunn’s son in the original 2000 film) are great too, but where this film arguably comes alive is in the work of Samuel L. Jackson. Say what you want about the guy, but this is one of the strongest performances he’s done in many years, and you can tell that this cast are as invested in this universe as Shyamalan.

THE VERDICT

Glass fails to hit the same highs as its predecessors for a good chunk of its running time. But once you see the Protector, the Mastermind, and the Collective together in that psychiatric hospital, it does properly kick off- it’s just a shame that the trilogy has to end on a very sour note.

RATING: 3.5/5