--Ellie Staple, Glass
Given the modern cinematic climate, Glass is a very relevant movie. Many superhero movies have been scheduled for a 2019 release, from Avengers: Endgame and Shazam! to Captain Marvel and Dark Phoenix, but Glass is the year's first offering of the genre. It certainly is a superhero movie, and it calls attention to this more than once. Yet it acknowledges the cliches of the superhero genre primarily to sidestep them. The movie caters to expectations that have been fortified by years of similar storytelling devices in films based on comic characters, only to disregard them in a series of clever but polarizing twists. There is not just one twist, and there are not even just two; Glass has three significant revelations that add worldbuilding depth to the universe of M. Night Shyamalan's Eastrail 177 trilogy, but not everyone will find them satisfying.
 |
|
Production Values
As one might expect from a project with James McAvoy, Samuel Jackson, and Bruce Willis as the leads, the performances in Glass are consistently strong. McAvoy once again showcases the range of his acting ability, playing at least six different personas of dissociative identity disorder sufferer Kevin Crumb, some of whom were already explored in Split. As with before, scenes where he cycles between multiple personalities represent the pinnacle of his contribution to the film. Jackson and Willis both continue their roles from Unbreakable in a very natural way. The character of Elijah Price allows viewers to see a more mild version of Jackson's screen presence, with David Dunn serving as the opposite of Elijah: Elijah's bones are abnormally prone to break, while David possesses incredible physical strength.
Newcomer character Ellie Staple is presented by Sarah Paulson to great effect. Staple's dismissal of superpowers is ironic but fitting in an era dominated by superhero stories, just as the themes of Glass are both ironic and fitting. Though the supporting cast members all exhibit splendid acting, Anya Taylor-Joy stands out in particular. Taylor-Joy, who has already demonstrated her superb skills as an actress in The Witch and Split, perhaps needed more screen time. After all, some of the most powerful scenes are those that emphasize the positive relationship between Casey (played by Taloy-Joy) and Kevin after he almost killed her in the preceding film. Despite these moments being executed well, the script's greatest weakness is that it can be slow at times. Viewers who expect a story filled with action are better off waiting for the other superhero movies of the year.
Story
Spoilers!
Around three weeks after the finale of Split, David Dunn investigates the abduction of several girls by the Horde, an assembly of personalities occupying the mind of Kevin Crumb (whose DID following severe childhood abuse birthed the Horde). David tracks Kevin to a factory, where he frees the kidnapping victims and fights the Beast, Kevin's 24th and final personality, who can crawl on ceilings and survive gunshots. The melee results in both of them being caught by police and taken to a psychiatric institution led by Dr. Ellie Staple.
The villainous Elijah Price, otherwise known as Mr. Glass, happens to be confined in this same institution, where he is supposed to be kept under very heavy, consistent sedation to prevent him from outsmarting the guards. Of course, he eventually does just that, but only after Ellie repeatedly attempts to persuade him, David, and Kevin that they do not have superhuman abilities. Glass partners with the Beast in an effort to show the existence of superhumans to the world--but I will refrain from divulging more of the plot in order to keep the twists as guarded as I can.
Intellectual Content
In one sense, the very plot structure of Glass is worth analyzing for its timely commentary on the superhero genre as a whole. That aside, though, the core theme of the story is only exposed near the end. Translated from the film's universe to ours, the central idea of the narrative is that there is no need for us to look to fictional stories in order to know superheroes, as "ordinary" humans, left to themselves, are capable of seemingly superhuman feats. Human social conventions suppress our recognition of our own abilities, according to Elijah. This concept is intentionally meant to be obscured until a great deal of the movie has already gone by, yet earlier dialogue suggests that Elijah aimed to emphasize this idea all along. He recognizes that even if an extraordinary human accomplishment is scientifically possible, many contemporary "authorities" will deny, ignore, or misunderstand it. The ultimate antagonist of the story seeks to eliminate superpowers because a superhero's existence is often accompanied by that of an opposite, a supervillain, somewhere in the world, with the clashes that could result being potentially catastrophic.
Conclusion
 |
|
Glass will likely remain a very polarizing film for years. Its subversion of popular tropes alone will make the story intriguing to many people, but many others might strongly dislike the fact that the script teases the tropes as a way to distract viewers from deciphering its true goal too early. Even if a person is not a fan of superhero stories, though, McAvoy's brilliant performance justifies watching Glass at some point. Anyone who appreciated Split will definitely want to watch the sequel. Despite the mixed reactions to it, the movie concludes one of the most unique film trilogies in cinema history up to this point.
Content:
1. Violence: A man has his throat cut with a piece of glass. In various scenes, the Beast squeezes or hurls people to their deaths. A gunshot results in a fairly bloody wound.
No comments:
Post a Comment