GlassIs a Frustrating, Unsatisfying Conclusion to theUnbreakableSaga

Nineteen year ago , I image M. Night Shyamalan ’s Unbreakable and fell in love . To this day , it’sone of my preferred movies of all time . So , when I saw Split four months before release , the disgraceful revelation that it took place in the same universe wasone of my most memorable theatrical experiences . I say these things to give context to how painful these next sentences are . I ’m as liberal a lover of the Unbreakable serial as anyone I bonk , and Glass is a major disappointment .

Like its predecessors , and in contrast to most of the superhero pic from the last decade , Glass submit an ultra - realistic , undercoat looking at at the melodic theme of superheroes . Could amusing Bible just be enlarged versions of genuine people and stories ? The first two films suggest the answer is “ yes , ” but Glass tries to overthrow that , introduce Dr. Ellie Staple ( Sarah Paulson ) , a psychiatrist dead set on prove these ability are all in the head of David Dunn ( Bruce Willis ) , Kevin Wendell Crumb ( James McAvoy ) , and Elijah Price ( Samuel L. Jackson ) , respectively known as the Overseer , the Horde , and Mr. Glass .

Because Glass fuses all those universe and character together , its first hurdle is tell a storythat connect everything in a satisfying , logical way . To that end , the film deliver the goods . Shyamalan , who write and directed the film , create a scenario that brings everything together in a succinct , entertaining fashion . In fact , the film ’s first bit is utterly first-class . There ’s a huge action mechanism scene , some suspense , character development , greatconnections back to Unbreakable , and more . It really works , set the taproom high as the film prompt into its next form .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Things commute with the origination of Dr. Staple though . The flick slows down . It gets tempered and constrain , and that airtight , propellent story from the start is lost . The interactions between the doctor and her three presuppose superheroes dominates the relaxation of the picture . Now , if Glass was implicated withhow this scenario impacted its characters , that would be fine . That was what made Unbreakable and Split so successful , that the characters drive those narration . Here , though , the opposite is true . Everything is tailor so the disparate narrative strand relate instead of the emotional ones .

Throughout this , the character reference given the most sieve meter is the Horde . In fact , the second act of Glass is mainly a show window for McAvoy ’s acting abilities . ( Which , to be honest , are pretty sinful , considering wemeet even more of Kevin ’s many personalitiesthis fourth dimension around . ) But as he ’s go away through those telling transformations and motions , the cinema does n’t go through many of its own . Any tension or suspense built out of the first act is almost all removed and we ’re exit with an exposition - heavy account that ’s spinning its wheel waitress for the real game to kick in , or at least another military action set small-arm .

Both of those things add up , but they take a while to arrive . Which , again , would have been fine if Glass took its dull , self-examining center and planted the seeds for a deeper thematic reward . regrettably , it ’s never exactly clear what Glass is endeavor to say or be , even when something is being stated in a verbatim address to the camera or through voiceover . As the plastic film explore various things like the rivalries between the heroes , who ’s cognisant of their existence , the works of the infirmary , intersections with specific comic books , and more , oodles of little thematic strands emerge , but none are an obvious focus . Everything is just kind of mixed together .

William Duplessie

Part of that is because the film is so concerned with keeping the audience guessing . Now , of course of instruction , as you probably anticipate from a Shyamalan movie , most thing in Glass pay up off in ways you wo n’t expect . But even on a smaller scale leaf , several point in the motion-picture show make you think , “ Wait , what about this piece of data ? ” only to have it answered a few scenes later . This is sure enough admirable , but the narrative cohesion take the centering away from the big picture . Things like , who are we stand for to cheer for , the “ heroes ” or the “ villains ” ? What is this motion picture saying about the world we live in or the nature of superheroes ? Everything just sort of unfolds without consequence or weight . Occasionally , one of these panorama will work well , specially in the film ’s second and final large set piece , but very slight hit home , even when the final credit peal .

Some of that malaise can be derive from the score by West Dylan Thordson . He ’s back after doing the medicine for Split and again has write a solid score , setting a very specific , tense mood . However , the score only briefly and subtly uses the themes James Newton Howard create for Unbreakable , the robust , invigorating , superheroic line that were also used at the end of Split . Because of that , the music becomes almost a metaphor for the movie itself . It ’s almost as if it ’s purposefully maintain itself restrain , even when the action on sieve is n’t . Glass could have used a heavy venereal infection of those big , bold , emotion to give everything some scurf and excitement . or else , it continue the shackles on any overt emotion , be it on - CRT screen with the graphic symbol , or off - screen in the audience .

The acting in Glass also has a vast event on the pic ’s uneven tone , tempo , and thematics . As antecedently bring up , McAvoy is passably incredible as Kevin , the man with dozens of personality living in his body . He effortlessly change between them in a genuine powerhouse performance . Bruce Willis , however , is on the polar side of the spectrum . His fibre , David Dunn , was well established as stoical in Unbreakable but in Glass , it ’s on another storey . Even in the lineament ’s giving moments , it ’s voiceless to tell what he ’s thinking or what his motivations are . As a result , there ’s piddling connection to the one true friend . Then there ’s Samuel L. Jackson , who is devilishly fun as Mr. Glass but is finally only given a few second to truly radiate . In a movie called Glass , you wish there was more of him .

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Glass ’s supporting characters are a gravid illustration of the motion-picture show ’s problems too . The filmbrings back Anya Taylor - Joy , Spencer Treat Clark , and Charlayne Woodard from Split and Unbreakable , each giving the primary characters someone “ normal ” to connect with . And while these character terminate up becoming of the essence parts of the plot , for most of the movie , they ’re little more than cat’s-paw , there to reiterate game points but otherwise broadly speaking find non - essential . ( That say , the way Shyamalan impart Treat Clark ’s fictional character back into the story deserves a yell out because it ’s first-class , even if it never reaches its true potential ) . fundamentally , you half empathize why they ’re there , one-half feel disconcert by it , and only by the end have a general idea about why they are in the movie at all .

at last , that ’s Glass . It feels like a motion-picture show from a filmmaker who has some awesome teaser pieces — and yet , even after almost 20 age , no clear-cut vision of how to put them together . There are moments of enormousness which are dominate by a vast majority of perplexing and muddled scene and intentions . The spunk and tingle of Glass ’ predecessors are noticeably missing , and while there are some outstanding surprises , it ’s not well-fixed to grasp what they think in a larger setting .

The flick is a disappointment , but , as a fan , it ’s a disappointment I ’ll be revisiting again to be trusted . It ’s a world that remains worth exploring with some interesting twists on what these films have been about for almost two decades . I just like Glass gave them a more hearty , complete platform to stand on .

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