I think it's fair to say that M Night Shyamalan’s films have always been quite hit and miss.
Admittedly, he was the talk of Hollywood when he delivered The Sixth Sense -1999 (Yes I know, don’t you feel old!) and gave a boost to the careers of Toni Collette and a young Haley Joel Osment. It also showed that Bruce Willis could still bring in audiences.
Back then it was the film to see and if you were lucky enough, you didn’t have the twist ruined by some idiot like the pratt in the audience during a live TV episode of the Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned show, who stood up and gave away the surprise ending to the theatre crowd and millions of unsuspecting viewers who tuned in.
Shyamalan’s follow-up was Unbreakable (2000) starring Bruce Willis again as David Dunn, the only survivor of a devastating train crash who believed he now had superhero powers with great strength. He meets up with a man called Elijah (Samuel L Jackson) who is convinced David is unbreakable, and tells him he is a superhero.
Unbreakable had moderate reviews and was more of a marmite film. However, this film forms part of the Glass trilogy. The other film that completes it is the very watchable Split – 2016, which centres on Kevin a young man who had been abused by his widowed mother. Kevin is played brilliantly by British actor James McAvoy. Kevin has multiple personality syndrome living with 23 characters in his head.
He lives alone know and is having therapy from psychiatrist Dr Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who knows each of the different personalities, some are harmless like a nine-year-old called Headwig who loves rap music but there are others who are not so friendly. Many of Dr Fletcher’s colleagues pity these patients whereas she thinks that maybe people like Kevin are the next part of the evolution process and are much cleverer than the rest of us.
Unfortunately Kevin is quite weak compared to some of the other people in his head such as Dennis, Patricia and Crumb who are taking charge more and more.
Crumb kidnaps three teenage girls locking them up in his massive basement telling them that they will be meeting a new member…the Beast!
In Glass we have all three of these people who believe they have superpowers, Elijah (Jackson), Kevin (McAvoy) and Dunn (Willis).
Nineteen years later from Unbreakable, Dunn is still a vigilante saving those who are victims of violent crime, dishing out his own justice in a more violent manner wearing his wax hooded windbreaker and using his super strength. His son Joseph is played by the same actor who played his son in 1999 (Spencer Treat Clark). Joseph helps his father track down the bad guys using his wall of monitors with his social media skills. (My, how things have changed).
Kevin’s alter ego personalities are more recent in Glass and he is still kidnapping young women and waiting for the Beast to appear again.
In the meantime Elijah has been put in an institution, heavily sedated due to his immense intelligence.
Following his gut instinct Dunn confronts Kevin’s Beast and a massive fight takes place until a special police force equipped with new technology to subdue the two titans.
Soon all three are locked up in the same institution. Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) has the task of getting the three of them to admit they the do not and have never possessed any superhero abilities but she only has three days in which to prove her case. Are they real or is it just a fantasy?
As always, M Night Shyamalan does his best Hitchcock by appearing in every film he directs (Hey! He's the boss!) but, always over-acts, even with a one-liner.
As we left the screening you could hear other reviewers arguing on how bad it was or giving it a “Hmmm! It was alright”. I think I fall into the “Alright Camp”.
I could see where the director was going and what he was trying to say but I thought the ending was a bit lazy.
However, the performances were good. Samuel L Jackson is always good value and Bruce Willis is easy to watch but James McAvoy’s performance is outstanding as the multiple personalities. A little over the top sometimes but you still can't take your eyes off him when he is on a roll.
There was another fine turn from Anya Taylor-Joy reprising her role as Casey from the film Split.
However, by all means check out this film but my tip is watch Unbreakable and Split if you want it all to make sense. Both movies can be found on Netflix or Now TV.
Three out of Five Stars
In Cinemas Friday 18 January 2019
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