Review: Glass

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.

M. Night Shyamalan has combined the story from one of his greatest successes ("Unbreakable") and his most recent hit ("Split") and, unfortunately, come up with his hands mostly empty. Not only does the director waste a great opportunity to return to the well by expanding a story that once worked for him, but he squanders it with a petulant theme that recalls one of his biggest bombs ("Lady in the Water") and a woefully misbegotten twist in the final scenes.

The film picks up shortly after the events of "Split," in which Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) has eluded authorities after having murdered several teenage girls. Crumb and his multiple personalities - which vary from the childlike Hedwig and matronly Patricia to the monstrous Beast - have now kidnapped a group of cheerleaders and plans to sacrifice them to the Beast. Meanwhile, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is living out his life as a vigilante known as The Overseer, taking on low-rent criminals, while his son (Spencer Treat Clark) gives him directions via a microphone.

Shortly into the film, Dunn and Crumb cross paths and begin to fight, but they are soon captured and sent to a mental hospital where, I kid you not, a psychiatrist (Sarah Paulson) who specializes in people who believe they are comic book heroes arrives to convince them that they are all merely circumstantially powerful, and that their abilities have nothing to do with the supernatural. This, unfortunately, leads to a number of sequences in which Paulson's character and the three lead characters - and even some of the supporting characters - sit around and discuss their lives as if they were living in a comic book. Trust me when I say this is even more tedious than it sounds.

Even more bizarre is the fact that Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), the one victim whom Crumb let escape in "Split," has returned benevolently because she, for whatever reason, is deeply concerned about her previous captor's psychiatric care. Much of the film takes place in the psychiatric hospital, which doesn't make for very compelling drama.

But once Dunn and Crumb are exposed to Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson, who spends the first half of the picture pretending to drool and look dead-eyed), the primary villain in "Unbreakable" and catalyst for all three films, an escape plot is hatched and the pieces start to come into place. This is not to say that the film gets better, as the pieces are often ludicrous.

Much like his huge flop "Lady in the Water" and similar to an attitude taken by Kevin Smith, another 1990s filmmaker whose critics have turned on him, "Glass" features a prominent anti-critic theme that reeks of bitterness. Paulson's psychiatrist character is the critic who makes Dunn, Crumb and Elijah believe that they are not superheroes, and even makes them question whether they (as stand-ins for Shyamalan) ever had any special talents. Paulson's character also represents the shadowy government who uses science to rain on the characters' parades, when all they want to do is believe in something.

While McAvoy earns some points by jumping back and forth between Crumb's various personalities, the routine quickly becomes exhausting and Willis appears more resigned than anything in this film. His character is given the least to do here. Jackson is the only one who appears to be having any fun in the film, so it's a shame that his wily Elijah is often forced to convey the most obvious and obligatory expository dialogue regarding origin stories and comic book lore. And don't even get me started on the film's big reveal, a typical Shyamalan plot twist that ranks as one of his worst.

There are moments when Shyamalan utilizes flashbacks from "Unbreakable" and, on occasion, "Split" to remind viewers of the characters' previous stories. Sadly, these moments are the most watchable in "Glass." It's not a good sign when old footage from previous films is the most resonant. More than any other Shyamalan picture in recent memory, "Glass" had potential, so it's a shame that it ends up being such a misfire.