M. Night Shyamalan
Glass

"Glass" is a film that upon its release was more criticized than loved. I take this opportunity to discuss it from my personal point of view, hoping that many may change their minds or, in any case, enrich themselves with more information about this film by M. Night Shyamalan.

As very few were aware, given the surprise ending of "Split", "Glass" is the third and concluding chapter (although not entirely established by the director) of a hypothetical trilogy, starting from the splendid "Unbreakable", starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, and the beautiful unofficial sequel "Split" with James McAvoy. All three chapters address the superhero and comic book theme from Shyamalan's perspective, where the characters themselves interact with each other and test their "superpowers". The first film focused more on being a science fiction film with dramatic hints, such as the relationships between Bruce Willis and his wife and son or Samuel L. Jackson as a child, while the second leaned more towards horror, setting it almost entirely in an underground building. This "Glass" starts right from "Split", where we see David Dunn 19 years after "Unbreakable" as a vigilante of the night, managing to get views on the Internet thanks to the support of his now-teenage son. In the meantime, James McAvoy's character has kidnapped four cheerleaders to offer them to The Beast, the last of the 23 personalities. Following a confrontation, McAvoy and Willis are both captured by the police and transferred to a psychiatric hospital, where they are analyzed by Dr. Staple, discovering that Mr. Glass, Samuel L. Jackson himself whom we left in "Unbreakable", is also held in that hospital. With his genius mind, he will try to find a way out, corrupting the fragile mind behind The Horde, finally finding an ending for his "story" by aiming for an epic final showdown against David Dunn, so the "comic" he envisioned in his supervillain mind can finally come to a conclusion.

I don’t hide the fact that compared to the first two, the film suffers from some not insignificant flaws, especially in the middle section with Mr. Glass’s escape or in the finale itself, with many elements that in some ways do not find a very functional balance. But apart from this, the film once again becomes an analysis by Shyamalan on the superhero comic factor, in a much more mature and decidedly intelligent perspective compared to most of the Marvel films and those of its ilk from recent years. Shyamalan’s auteur touch is felt once again, inspired by his love for Hitchcock, and here on the technical level, it’s much more pronounced. The shots inside the hospital are impeccable, where an eerie silence leads little by little to the storm. Everything is thought out almost as if on a chessboard, where our characters will move step by step towards the finale, where they will finally get into the heart of the action. But without giving further spoilers, Shyamalan does not want to give us any solutions. He is not interested in following the homework of classic comfort superhero movies, thus deciding to break everyone’s rules and expectations in "cliché" moments, something that indeed did not please many who saw the film from a simple, entertaining angle, probably expecting more of a "Batman vs Superman" type of film. Instead, Shyamalan is a director who wants to communicate something to the viewer, encouraging them to reflect on human behaviors when they are aware of being different, or just as much on their own powers. Shyamalan breaks the comic book’s fourth wall, where even Glass at some point confuses the viewer, making them believe they are truly inside a superhero comic book, a somewhat clever move by Shyamalan himself to justify the behavior of our characters.

As for the characters, as I explained in the introduction, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson return in their original roles. Willis, although clearly aged, you can see when he's eager to work, and Shyamalan knows how to manage him, having him act in a very subdued manner to enhance his character’s drama, although in "Unbreakable" he captivated me more. Jackson is spectacular, for the first minutes he acts simply with his gaze and a nervous eye tic, until exploding into madness in the second part; not to mention he's an actor with a strong charisma, that manages not to look out of place even in a film like "Snakes on a Plane". Completing the trio, we have James McAvoy, who had already demonstrated an admirable performance in "Split", in some ways over the top but as the character should have been, yet here he manages to carve out a good balance amidst the two colleagues. Compared to the first film, where he could afford to take more time showing us some of the more important characters and deepening them, here instead the rest are thrown out in much brisker sequences, but I think this is partly due to the screenplay, to showcase a showreel of McAvoy’s acting ability in managing all these personalities independently. Quite a complicated task. But McAvoy comes out a winner, securing a cult role in his career, and here too his background is expanded in a great Shyamalan-like plot twist. Anya Taylor-Joy returns from "Split", known for "The Witch", with a starting background that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Tim Burton movie, albeit more raw. Spencer Treat Clark returns as Willis’s son, and the splendid character of Glass's mother. Rounding out the picture is Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellie Staple, from the freshness of "American Horror Story" here, however, comes off as the least inspired actress, despite her character itself being deliberately subdued.

"Glass" to conclude, does it have flaws? Yes. Is it a worthy "finale" for the Trilogy? Absolutely. Although lesser compared to the previous chapters, it still deserves a more in-depth viewing, with the awareness that we're talking about a Shyamalan film, a sort of bizarre world where we deal with a mother advising her son to "hit hard" in "Signs", and a Mark Wahlberg so over-the-top that he's adorable in the catastrophic drama "The Happening". This is Shyamalan, you either love him or hate him.