“Delusions of Grandeur”
That’s what Elijah aka Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), David Dunn (Bruce Willis), and Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) are led to believe they suffer from and all the experiences that have happened thus far can be explained away.
Glass, the latest film from M. Knight Shyamalan is the union of two his past works: Unbreakable and Split.
Kevin Wendell Crumb aka The Horde undergoes a killing spree in Philadelphia while David Dunn and his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) are conducting their own investigation while alluding the Philadelphia police department. The authorities want him to give up his vigilante ways, but he’s determined to identify Crumb and bring him to justice. When Crumb and Dunn finally come face-to-face, instead of having their anticipated showdown, they’re intercepted by a psychiatrist named Dr. Ellie Staple and taken to an asylum. The asylum housing an unresponsive, practically catatonic, Elijah Price aka Mr. Glass for the past nineteen years.
Gathering the Trinity for a group session, Dr. Staple reveals they’ve been brought together so that she can prove their supposed superhero feats can be explained away and they are suffering from “delusions of grandeur” and only had three days to do so.
[Spoilers Ahead]
Once they’re under the same roof, Mr. Glass puts his plans in motion to unleash his superhero, asylum mates and finally prove to the public that there are those among them who are capable of extraordinary things, that “superheroes are real.” Himself included, despite his brittle make-up.
Mr. Glass’ black and brittle exterior is nothing more than a shell of who he really is and is contrary to what we expect from a black superhuman. Instead of a hyper-masculine, muscle-clad, mega-man, his biggest attribute is his brain’s ability to mentally outwork those around him. Instead of using aggression to escape, he plays opossum [think Song of the South, but violent] in master fashion in route to an elaborate escape from the facility not because he wants to be free from bondage but to free society’s mind from bondage and the belief that there are no extraordinary beings and instead of being celebrated for his free-thinking, he’s locked and tucked away.
In the end, the cunning and intellect of Glass get him what he wants. He reveals why their fates are interwoven and why the world needs to know who they are, but was it worth the cost he has to pay?
Despite an intriguing story that culminates with a showdown between the principles, it doesn’t end there. The conclusion successfully derails what made the story great over the course of two stanzas and instead leaves the audience confused. A final stanza that should have been an alley-oop for a sequel was instead an underwhelming curtain call that felt less like “What’s next?!” and more like “Uh oh” in typical Shyamalan fashion.
Comic and superhero purist may point to the ending as a reason why superhero movies should be left to the experts but, the uneventful close shouldn’t be enough to detract from what was overall a decent, alternative to the Marvel/DC world. There was enough in the meat of the film to make another one. Not to mention Jackson’s performance, along with Sarah Paulson, James McAvoy and Bruce Willis were well done.
BSO Grade: B-/C+ (The ending brought down the grade average).
Glass, which opens in theaters on January 18, stars Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy, and Sarah Paulson.
To watch the Official Trailer for Glass, flip the page.
