This movie is so frustrating and disappointing that is sad.
Shyamalan stated that Glass is the final part of a trilogy imagined after some concepts for Unbreakable have had to be put aside. And conflicts between studios and lack of positive ratings regarding his movies after that postponed the idea indefinitely.
He also defines Glass as the first real adult superhero movie to hit theaters since the raise of popularity of this genre, but he's completely wrong about it. First because the fantastic elements he uses and his original concepts about the story itself doesn't lead neither story or characters to a mature appeal. Logan, for example, uses basically the same tragic elements, but James Mangold succeds when distancing the story from the universe it is set, creating a parallel one that works effectively with a consistent plot, action sequences, valuable drama elements and pinches of metacriticism about how far heroes can go in the genre itself. And even though Shyamalan tries hard to develop similar issues, he never achieves a higher level.
The thing is that problems start when Shyamalan oversaturates the story with unecessary things. A recurring problem on his writing already pinned not only by critics, but also by audience in general.
Split is interesting until audience feels completely lost between Kevin's 9 different personalities, questioning the true relevance of that, also getting to know later that there are a dozen more the movie hadn't time to show. Because, you know, 3 or 4 wouldn't be enough.
Instead of beying a movie to extend McAvoy's talent, in fact was a particular freak show. Not that McAvoy wasn't able to handle it by his own merits, but because Shyamalan's overuse of fantastic elements overshadowed every single element that could make the movie a relevant back to form to a director's career filled with bad choices over the years.
Now, once again, the story is interesting, and the plot was promissing after the cliffhanger ending of last movie, but the whole process was underdone. For a trilogy that he stated to be developing for over a decade, the feeling is that he made up everything in the last minute.
First of all, screenplay never develops a dramatic arc effectively. It's always bland and superficial. No consistent conflicts, no relevant dialogs. There's no compelling narrative at all. Just a bunch of characters imprisioned, trapped on their own flashbacks over and over to remember audience who they are instead of put their very own abilities to test and how that could impact within a whole system for real, and not just theoretically as screeplay does.
Characters are arrested by someone that wants to convince them all the time that they are a product of their own mind, and also an effortless disservice when trying to convince us that what we've seen so far on previous movies was just a delusion. And entire movie keeps the same tone until the final act. What a waste.
The acting also reflects director's inability to convice them to take their individual roles seriously. Willis seems to be just doing a favor to an old friend in need; Jackson's "is-but-isn't-there" situation is like a bad joke; Paulson is just doing her job, no hard commitment; Anya Taylor-Joy... I don't even know why her character is back, maybe just to say: "Hey, everyone! I have Stockholm Syndrome and I'm proud of it!".
Shyamalan wasn't satisfied to split his character into twenty-F-something personalities. He was so unsatisfied to a point that - and I don't know how he managed that - he also succeeds splitting those ones that already exists. When Beast has his redeeming moment after some truths come to surface was like there wasn't any more cards to play, so Shyamalan just turned the table upside down. The plot twist was so predictable that, if that was supposed to be tragic, well, it fails badly.
And that Shyamalan's traditional way to uncover the true-truth is so overdone that is outrageous.
And I will end this with a special comment about the "incredible" one responsible for that monstrosity on Charlayne Woodard's face that anyone should dare call it a make up.
Hopefully this small universe Shyamalan created in the last minute didn't last longer than a couple hours.
Shyamalan stated that Glass is the final part of a trilogy imagined after some concepts for Unbreakable have had to be put aside. And conflicts between studios and lack of positive ratings regarding his movies after that postponed the idea indefinitely.
He also defines Glass as the first real adult superhero movie to hit theaters since the raise of popularity of this genre, but he's completely wrong about it. First because the fantastic elements he uses and his original concepts about the story itself doesn't lead neither story or characters to a mature appeal. Logan, for example, uses basically the same tragic elements, but James Mangold succeds when distancing the story from the universe it is set, creating a parallel one that works effectively with a consistent plot, action sequences, valuable drama elements and pinches of metacriticism about how far heroes can go in the genre itself. And even though Shyamalan tries hard to develop similar issues, he never achieves a higher level.
The thing is that problems start when Shyamalan oversaturates the story with unecessary things. A recurring problem on his writing already pinned not only by critics, but also by audience in general.
Split is interesting until audience feels completely lost between Kevin's 9 different personalities, questioning the true relevance of that, also getting to know later that there are a dozen more the movie hadn't time to show. Because, you know, 3 or 4 wouldn't be enough.
Instead of beying a movie to extend McAvoy's talent, in fact was a particular freak show. Not that McAvoy wasn't able to handle it by his own merits, but because Shyamalan's overuse of fantastic elements overshadowed every single element that could make the movie a relevant back to form to a director's career filled with bad choices over the years.
Now, once again, the story is interesting, and the plot was promissing after the cliffhanger ending of last movie, but the whole process was underdone. For a trilogy that he stated to be developing for over a decade, the feeling is that he made up everything in the last minute.
First of all, screenplay never develops a dramatic arc effectively. It's always bland and superficial. No consistent conflicts, no relevant dialogs. There's no compelling narrative at all. Just a bunch of characters imprisioned, trapped on their own flashbacks over and over to remember audience who they are instead of put their very own abilities to test and how that could impact within a whole system for real, and not just theoretically as screeplay does.
Characters are arrested by someone that wants to convince them all the time that they are a product of their own mind, and also an effortless disservice when trying to convince us that what we've seen so far on previous movies was just a delusion. And entire movie keeps the same tone until the final act. What a waste.
The acting also reflects director's inability to convice them to take their individual roles seriously. Willis seems to be just doing a favor to an old friend in need; Jackson's "is-but-isn't-there" situation is like a bad joke; Paulson is just doing her job, no hard commitment; Anya Taylor-Joy... I don't even know why her character is back, maybe just to say: "Hey, everyone! I have Stockholm Syndrome and I'm proud of it!".
Shyamalan wasn't satisfied to split his character into twenty-F-something personalities. He was so unsatisfied to a point that - and I don't know how he managed that - he also succeeds splitting those ones that already exists. When Beast has his redeeming moment after some truths come to surface was like there wasn't any more cards to play, so Shyamalan just turned the table upside down. The plot twist was so predictable that, if that was supposed to be tragic, well, it fails badly.
And that Shyamalan's traditional way to uncover the true-truth is so overdone that is outrageous.
And I will end this with a special comment about the "incredible" one responsible for that monstrosity on Charlayne Woodard's face that anyone should dare call it a make up.
Hopefully this small universe Shyamalan created in the last minute didn't last longer than a couple hours.