Let's start from the top. David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the unbreakable man from "Unbreakable," now runs an electronics store with his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark). He's been crime fighting on the down low, and is now actively searching for the serial killer with dissociative identity disorder and 23 different personalities, Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) from "Split." Both of them end up under the care of Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), a psychologist who seeks to convince them that their superhuman abilities aren't real, but rather the product of delusions from mental illness. She's also treating Dunn's old nemesis Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who has long been institutionalized for his crimes. Staple also recruits Crumb's former victim Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy) to help her with Crumb's treatment.
What I love about "Glass" is that it gives me more of the wildly improbable characters I enjoyed in "Unbreakable" and "Split." Samuel L. Jackson and James McAvoy's performances are especially strong, catching us up on what their characters have been up to since we saw them last. Crumb's internal power struggles are still fascinating, and easily the best thing in the movie. Mr. Glass is a ticking time bomb with a real sense of pathos to him. Willis is noticeably less involved, but David Dunn is still an enjoyable presence too. Best of all, these characters work pretty well together, easily sliding into the roles and relationships of these larger-than-life comic book heroes and villains on the verge of a momentous clash. The trouble is that the any wonder or mystery keeps being undercut by Shyamalan's insistence on shoving the comic book motif in our faces over and over again.
In "Unbreakable," Jackson's Mr. Glass would go on these extended monologues about the nature of comic book characters, and that worked because it was an extension of the nature of that character and his obsessions. Here, multiple characters have those monologues, and superhero trivia keeps being brought up at random, to the point where it becomes ridiculous. Sure, the idea that believing you're a superhero might be a new subtype of mental illness has some potential. However, it's implemented so badly. Sarah Paulson is stuck with the awful job of playing the shrink who tries to convince the other characters that they aren't living in a comic book by grandiosely raving about comic books and superheroes incessantly. It's way, way too much.
What's worse, it takes attention away from the parts of the story that needed it. I would have loved to see more time spent on the Dunns' relationship, or Casey and Kevin's relationship, or more Mr. Glass backstory. Heck, setting up Dr. Staple as more than a two-dimensional character would have made that last act twist (we all knew there was going to be a twist) play out better. Shyamalan has some good ideas in the mix, and I absolutely respect him for making some choices that no other superhero media would dare try, but the execution is so lackluster that few of them land with much impact.
Part of my frustration with this aspect of the film is that it feels like Shyamalan hasn't been living in the same world as the rest of us, where superhero movies and shows are so prevalent and widely accepted. He insists on explaining the rules of comic books to the audience as if they're totally unfamiliar with the mythology. I have to wonder if the script for "Glass" has just been sitting in a box somewhere since "Unbreakable" came out twenty years ago, and Shyamalan didn't bother to update it. Or it could be that he got carried away trying to put into dialogue all the things that he couldn't figure out how to put on screen.
I should point out that Shyamalan is working with a very limited budget here, and we were never going to get the full superhero action showdown that some viewers were hoping for. "Glass" is operating mostly in the realm of a supernatural psychological thriller. Sure, it's also a superhero movie, but in the same way that "Logan" was a superhero movie because the main characters are superheroes. At least the movie looks great, despite its scant resources, and manages some good moments of suspense and excitement - but in the end it's a very small film, and its limitations show.
I think it's worth seeing for some of the performances, especially if you enjoyed the previous films. Unfortunately, it doesn't work nearly as well on its own, and as a grand finale it's sorely disappointing.
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