No one was expecting this movie to happen, so it’s hard to believe that it actually exists. Unbreakable was director M. Night Shyamalan’s second big hit in 2000, and it’s gained a bit of a cult following over the years. People have always been wanting a sequel to it, but as the years went on, it seemed far less likely. Then, in 2017 Shyamalan surprised everyone with his new hit movie Split. While the movie was enjoyable in its own right, the big treat for Unbreakable fans happened at the end of the movie, when Unbreakable’s protagonist David Dunn makes a surprise appearance, revealing that Unbreakable and Split exist in the same universe. And so, not long after that, Shyamalan announced that the Unbreakable sequel would finally be made, although now it would also be a sequel to Split as well. And so we have Glass, a movie that serves as the conclusion to what’s now being called the “Eastrail 177” trilogy. I do recommend seeing both Unbreakable and Split if you haven’t already, as Glass does rely heavily on events from those two movies.

So, as I said, Glass is a weird kind of movie because it’s a sequel to two different movies. It continues the stories of both Kevin (and all of his different personalities) from Split, as well as David and Elijah from Unbreakable. The basic story here goes a little something like this…David Dunn is still protecting the streets as a superhero. He keeps hearing news stories about a man that’s kidnapping groups of girls. So, he seeks this man out and stumbles upon Kevin, who just happens to be in his Beast personality at the time. The two fight, but wind up both getting apprehended by the police and are put in a mental institution, right where Elijah Price has been. The three wind up getting counseled by a woman who specializes in people that believe they have superhuman abilities. The three must grapple with whether or not they actually have abilities, all the while Mr. Glass starts on a new master plan.

I’m just gonna say outright that the movie is essentially fan service. It’s one big crossover between two of Shyamalan’s best movies, and so this is why I don’t think people that haven’t seen those movies will enjoy Glass as much as fans of those movies would. If you are fans of them, though, I think that there’s a lot to enjoy with Glass. The movie continues the stories of its main characters in a pretty satisfying way, and the story goes in a lot of interesting directions that I wasn’t expecting. The acting is also exactly where I wanted it to be. James McAvoy has hands-down been the best part of this trilogy as a whole, but Bruce Willis and Samuel Jackson also deliver some great performances here.

My only real gripe with the movie is that the second act really winds up dragging it down a bit. The beginning is fantastic, and so is the end, but some of the stuff in the middle was just slow. I found myself really invested at first, but then a lot of the scenes in the mental institution didn’t play out quite as exciting as I was expecting. I think the movie could have really benefited from some more interactions between the main characters, as they are kind of quarantined off from each other for a good portion of the movie. This is the kind of movie that seems like the script wasn’t edited well enough either, because there was a lot of fluff that could have been cut, and the movie would have been better for it. However, then in the last 30-40 minutes, the movie really picks up again, and it ends in a satisfying way.

Glass is a bit of a niche movie, and so I don’t think it will be for everyone. The easiest recommendation is to only see it if you saw Unbreakable and Split and liked them both. Otherwise, a lot of the movie will probably be lost on you. However, as someone that did like both Unbreakable and Split, I found a lot to enjoy in Glass. To be honest, I was a little skeptical of the movie going into it, because critic reviews were a little subpar, and the trailers weren’t really convincing me that much. However, the movie winded up being better than I was expecting, and so I was pleasantly surprised here. I don’t think this will be movie of the year or anything by any stretch, but it is a fun crossover sequel for those that want it.

4/5