Mister Minutes' Cinema Circus

I wasn’t sure how, or if, Shyamalan could pull it off. It would be quite a feat, to create a satisfying trilogy-ender, a climactic superhero showdown in a series that tries very hard to subvert or avoid or examine familiar tropes of superhero movies. Against all odds, I think Glass is a great conclusion for the particular story and world Shyamalan created. That being said, it is a conclusion to a very specific and awkward world, which is pretty much a given since it's, y'know, a Shyamalan movie.

A few weeks after the events of Split, the collection of Kevin Wendell Crumb's evil personalities, called the Horde, have been busy kidnapping young girls as sacrifices to the 24th personality, the Beast. David Dunn, our security guard-turned-vigilante from Unbreakable, has kept busy the last 19 years, trying to clean up the streets of Philadelphia. Somehow, he seems to have done all this without arousing too much attention, getting clearly photographed, or recognized (despite his decision not to wear a mask). David is on the trail of the Horde, aided by his son Joseph as his eye in the sky. David confronts the Beast, but the two are apprehended in the middle of their battle and taken to a mental institution, where the mysterious psychiatrist Dr. Ellie Staple plans to convince them that they are not superpowered, but ordinary men with delusions of grandeur. The hospital also happens to be the facility where mass murderer Elijah Price, a.k.a. Mr. Glass, is serving out his life sentence. Kevin and David are eager to continue their battle, while Price has been kept in a drug-induced catatonic state for years due to his incredible intelligence and multiple escape attempts. It soon becomes apparent that Price has actually been faking his stupor for some time, having switched his drugs with aspirin, and plans to unleash the Beast at the opening of a new landmark skyscraper to force David into revealing himself, thereby revealing the existence of super powered individuals to the world.

As with the two previous films, I have to applaud Night's devotion to his particular style. Glass is just as slow and low-key as its predecessors; it still has weird, stilted Shyamalan dialogue that feels extremely out of place for a "superhero movie". In fact, the whole movie feels extremely out of place for a superhero movie. Others have said, and rightly so, that Glass feels strange to modern audiences inundated with superhero media. It's awkward to hear Mr. Glass explain to Casey how hero/villain showdowns work, that there must be a climactic battle between good and evil. However, I think it's clear that this trilogy takes place in a world entirely removed from ours. This is not a world where the MCU dominates box office charts; there are no fans crying out for the Snyder cut; despite these films and characters centering around the idea of comic book heroes, this is clearly a world that does not care about comic books and superheroes. I can take the awkward dialogue in stride because it makes sense within the world; Casey doesn't know anything about comic books, she didn't care at all until she talked to Dr. Staple about Kevin's "delusions", so I can forgive a bit of clunky dialogue if it makes diegetic sense.

In an intriguing scene, Staple sits all three men down in a room and confronts them about their "abilities". She seemingly has a grounded real-world explanation for every feat David and Kevin have pulled off, such as bending metal bars and surviving shotgun blasts. She shows David an MRI scan showing possible damage in his frontal lobe from the train derailment he survived. As the audience, you want these guys to have superpowers, because it's cool, but Staple does a good job of sewing just enough doubt in the characters, so much so that even Patricia, the most stalwart supporter of the Beast and leader of his cult, has second thoughts about whether he has any powers at all. Staple's evidence actually leads to a full heel-turn in Dennis, who previously acted as Patricia's enforcer in Split. In fact, in Glass she seems to fully rely on nine-year-old Hedwig more than Dennis, who was already having misgivings about the killings at the start of the film.

It definitely is strange to end your superhero trilogy by trying to convince the characters that superpowers don't exist, and I totally get why that threw audiences off. It's a weird step back, going from the birth of superheroes in this universe to trying to deny their existence, but I still found it enjoyable because I wasn't sure what stance the movie itself was going to take in the end. Are superpowers real, or aren't they? Is Staple right, or is Mr. Glass? His motivation was the most interesting, for me, even in Unbreakable. Mr. Glass isn't a villain because he wants to cause chaos, or rule the world, or even to kill anyone. His only motivation is to find greatness in a world he sees as "mediocre"; to find people with extraordinary abilities and make sure they have their chance to be seen, to prove they exist. His methods are abhorrent, and he doesn't care who he hurts in his quest, but ultimately his goal is to prove that people like himself are not a mistake. He wants people to see how smart he is, how he can operate despite his bone condition; he wants people to see how special Kevin and his personalities are; he wants people to see David's invulnerability for the miracle that it is. His goal is not dissimilar to the Beast's; the Beast sees people who have suffered terribly - suffered like Kevin has - to be "pure", and those who have not experienced pain are unworthy. He, too, seeks recognition from a world he feels has ignored his kind. David, unfortunately, is the least interesting of the trio, because his motivations are much more simple, and his character arc has already been achieved in Unbreakable. Mr. Glass is very much the star of this show, and the movie hints at it in subtle ways, such as the room in which Staple interviews the three men being painted in a light purple, mauve color, and the glass motif returning in the moment when Dr. Staple realizes all the security cameras she put up to deter Mr. Glass actually gave him the perfect medium with which to realize his plan.

Speaking of Price's plan, I understand why audiences were underwhelmed by Glass' ending. Mr. Glass' prophesied skyscraper brawl does not come, but we find out that that wasn't his true plan after all; ever two steps ahead, Mr. Glass' true plan was to get caught in his escape with the Horde, resulting in a fight between David and the Beast in the parking lot, pushing each other into cars and trying to squeeze each other to death. They never even make it out of the lot, with all three characters dying similarly sad, pathetic deaths at the hands of a shady paramilitary group under Staple's control. However, Staple realizes this was part of Glass' plan all along; the 100 security cameras she installed in the facility captured every moment of the climactic battle, which Elijah had already routed to be uploaded to storage off-site. With his dying breath, he tells his mother that this wasn't the ending, but an origin story after all. That sounds strange for a third-part film, but I think what he meant was that, while Unbreakable and Split were his, David's, and Kevin's origin stories, the trilogy as a whole is the origin story of superheroes within their universe. The film ends with Mrs. Price uploading the fight footage to the internet, revealing their existence to the world. It's undeniable, going forward, that people with enhanced abilities exist, and not even Staple's shadowy organization can hide it now. That's what Price wanted all along; for him and his kind to be seen by the world. In his mind, their deaths are a necessary step to achieving the goal, and paving the way for other enhanced people in the world to make themselves known. Where society goes from there is anyone's guess. In the age of Marvel movies, where every film has to culminate in a massive power battle, destroying landmarks and dodging rubble, this ending can be disappointing because we're used to something much bigger. That being said, I think it's a great ending for the world Shyamalan created. For this world that doesn't care about superheroes, this world in which Night is treating superpowers with as much realism as he can muster, of course it would all end in a parking lot brawl between a shirtless psycho and a tired old man. This is Mr. Glass' movie, his grand plan coming to fruition, and David and the Beast are pawns in that plan.

It helps that that brawl is really, really good.

Director of photography Micheal Gioulakis returns, just as great as he was in Split. He's not afraid to get right in on McAvoy's snarling, terrifying, shark-eyed face as he screams and foams at the mouth as the Beast. You're right there in David's point of view, which genuinely made me anxious during the fight. McAvoy's acting is simply incredible in Glass, at one point switching between five or six brand new personalities in quick succession, all completely distinct characters. It's a shame that he really isn't widely recognized for his abilities in these movies. His physicality really sells the fight at the end. We see the Beast overturn a police car, run on all fours like an animal, snarl and swipe and climb and every bit of it feels believable because James McAvoy is giving it everything he's got.

Unfortunately, the Bigger Twist Ending (beyond the main trio's deaths) actually muddies the waters of the movie's themes in a disappointing way. As David is drowning, Dr. Staple takes his hand, knowing that by touching her, he will be able to sense her wrongdoing. We learn that Staple is actually a member of a secret organization that has taken it upon themselves to eliminate superpowered individuals all throughout history, to maintain the status quo for ordinary humans, and prevent "gods" from existing on Earth. Their insignia is a three-leafed clover; a perfectly ordinary, normal clover, the perfect symbol for their purpose. The existence of this organization, however intriguing, undermines the conceit of the movie; it would have made for fascinating discourse if the audience were left to our own imagination, to decide for ourselves whether the trio actually have powers or not. It would have been interesting to go back and watch Unbreakable wondering whether David is really invulnerable, or just incredibly lucky; we could have speculated about whether the Beast can actually scale smooth hospital walls or not; but the mere existence of the organization confirms without a shadow of a doubt that these men were super, at least enough to scare Staple into action. Any mystery that could have arisen is shattered (no pun intended). In the moment it is satisfying to see Staple denied her victory, to hear her shriek of frustration as she realizes she handed Glass his vindication, and that she has completely and utterly failed her mission, but I think we could still have had a satisfying ending without the inclusion of this secret shadow organization.

Overall, the ending is satisfying. We find Mrs. Price meeting with Joseph and Casey at the train station, as they wait for the video of Kevin and David's fight to reach the internet. Posthumous narration from Mr. Glass tells us "we allow each other to be superheroes", and I think that rings very true for this trio of sidekicks, the ones left behind by their loved ones' deaths. From the beginning in Unbreakable, Joseph wanted the world to see his dad as he saw him: a superhero, helping the less fortunate. Casey wanted people to see Kevin, not the Beast that took over his mind. Mrs. Price wanted the world to see her son, and recognize the terrible things he did, but realize that her son was not a mistake; not cursed by his brittle bone disorder, but gifted with intelligence and cunning. These three allowed their loved ones to be super, and the three of them, in turn, are super as well. Joseph's superpower is faith. Casey's superpower is compassion. Mrs. Price's superpower is support. I think that should be the real takeaway from Glass: that everyone has a superpower inside them, and that we need to believe in ourselves, to nurture our gifts, show each other compassion, and support our friends and loved ones so they believe in themselves. A secret evil organization that seeks to destroy our fantasies isn't the important thing here. The important thing is that we protect each other, and comfort the good heart hidden by trauma and suffering. Nurture each other's gifts, and we can all be superheroes.