Review of Glass (2019) by Omar L — 23 Jan 2019

Night's success with "Unbreakable" right after "The Sixth Sense" showed a clear skill with the language of cinema, especially in character development. "Unbreakable" remains one of my favorite movies of all time, sneaking in a superhero origin story in a poignant tale of love from the character of David Dunn. Bruce Willis's somber and touching performance opposite Robin Wright, Samuel L. Jackson, and especially Spencer Treat Clark helped create a group of characters that the audience could sympathize with, regardless of genre.

"Glass" doesn't have much of that, unfortunately. Much of the movie is focused on James McAvoy's characters from "Split," and because there are so many, it's harder to care about any in particular, even the perpetually-9-year-old Hedwig. Elijah's villainy seems perfectly in character, but only within the confines of this movie; "Unbreakable" did not give much indication as to the intellectual prowess of Mr. Glass.

However, the movie works well enough. The pacing is good, the characters are true, and there are very few cheats. What's missing (and what makes it disappointing) is all of the character work and chemistry from "Unbreakable," things that (at the time) made M. Night Shyamalan a filmmaker, and not just another director.