Many years ago, I stumbled on a movie that I honestly could not even remember having heard of before, called "Unbreakable." It was part of a two-movie DVD deal, and I think the other movie was another M. Night Shyamalan movie, "The Sixth Sense." Anyone who knows that movie knows that it was groundbreaking in it's day, and changed how movies were done. That movie became so iconic, that "I see dead people!" became one of the most instantly recognizable lines in movie history. There was a twist, unexpected ending that felt amazing and fresh for major movies, and shocked audiences. I still remember how unexpected and shocking it felt to see it for the first time!
So, this other M. Night Shyamalan movie was in this pack, and it was called "Unbreakable." At that time, spending a bit of money on an unknown quantity did not phase me, and so I went ahead and bought the two-pack. As it turns out, I was glad that I did, because it turned out to be a great movie! And just like "The Sixth Sense," there is a twist ending that you just do not see coming.
Now, I do not want to go too far in reviewing that movie, because there are probably many who have not yet seen the movie, but who would like to see it for the first time. And if any such people happen on this review, and were to find out the twist at the very end, it would undeniably completely alter their experience of the movie, much like it would for the "Sixth Sense."
So, let me recap the original two movies first, and please keep in mind that in this review, there will be spoilers of both "Unbreakable" and "Split." So, if you have not seen one or both movies, and intend to at some point, you might want to stop reading at this point, and return or scroll down past the description to where I return to the spoiler-free review of "Glass."
Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, a security guard who is going through some mediocre times. He seems on the verge of a split with the wife whom he loves dearly, and he is interviewing for a job that would take him away from her and his son. But on the train ride back, there is an accident, as Eastrail 177 derails. David is the sole survivor, and he also does not have a scratch on him. This seems like a miracle, and when David attends the services for the other passengers on that train, we find that a note has been left on David's windshield when he gets back. It is from a comic book store called "Limited Edition," and it asks him a simple question: "How many days of your life have you been sick?"
Naturally, this perplexes Dunn. he thinks, and he cannot remember ever having been sick. It seems weird. he asks his wife, and he asks his boss at work how many sick days he has taken, and inadvertently gives himself a raise as a result. But we know that Dunn wants more serious answers. When he meets Elijah Price (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson), the owner of a comic-themed art store, Limited Edition, he is more alarmed than enlightened. Price delivers a lecture, basically suggesting that Dunn is a real-life superhero. His son believes that he is a superhero from the beginning, but Dunn is not convinced. This sounds ludicrous to Dunn, but eventually, he himself comes to believe it when he continually finds himself able to go beyond his previous physical limits repeatedly.
Elijah Price was born with a disease, Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, which he explains is a rare disease that basically makes his bones easy to break. He has suffered many such injuries throughout his life, starting from the moment he was born. His physically weak condition gives him this rather unhealthy obsession with the idea of a hero who would be on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, someone who never seems to get sick or injured. He becomes convinced that Dunn is this man, and that Dunn is a real-life superhero.
In time, Dunn gets past his original skepticism, and turns to Price for guidance. Price tells him to go where people are. Dunn does so, and goes to a crowded train station. There, he uses his powers of perception (he gets visions about people when he touches them), and he eventually finds a psychopath who works as a custodian at the train station, but who has murdered the parents of a successful family. He also has the kids tied up in their own bedroom, and is continuing to create havoc. Dunn follows him there, and confronts him, ultimately killing him. But he also keeps his identity secret by wearing a hood over his head, and the news reports are of some unidentified hero who has saved the children. But there is a twist, of course, as in all of Shyamalan's movies. When Price and Dunn meet, Price insists on shaking hands, knowing what this will do. When Dunn shakes Price's hand, he has another vision, and finds out that Price has actually been the cause of numerous major disasters, one of which was the derailing of Eastrail 177. He had done so in order to find a real-life superhero, in order to confirm that he himself is an actual, real-life villain. The name that former classmates used to taunt him with, "Mr. Glass," he now embraces as his villain name.
In the second, very dark movie, "Split," Kevin Wendell Crumb (very capably played by James McAvoy).is a mentally unbalanced young man with who has a very serious dissociative identity disorder (DID), with no less than 24 personalities. Most of them seem relatively benign, but Crumb has nevertheless taken to kidnapping teenage girls. One of his newest personalities is someone who is referred to as "The Beast." He literally is like a beast in many ways, and we find out later that he likely developed this character while working at the Philadelphia Zoo, and observing the various beasts at the zoo. This Beast is talked about for most of the movie, but his therapist, Dr. Karen Fletcher (played by Betty Buckley), has so far identified only 23 personalities, and does not believe that "the Beast," is real.
The movie grows more intense, as one of the girls, Casey Cooke (played by Anya-Josephine Taylor-Joy) seems a bit more in tune, and better able to both obtain knowledge from, and even sympathize with, her captor, clearly gives her the edge. As the movie progresses, we find out that Cooke has one very important thing in common: they both had been severely abused throughout their childhood, and Cooke may still be actively abused by her uncle, who has become her legal guardian following the death of her father. This is the reason why the other girls who were captured along with her (classmates, but not really friends) has clearly always stayed away from her, because she always acted different, in ways that they could not understand. But what appears to them as a weakness turns out to be a strength, and it is this strength that she developed while being abused that ultimately spares her the very dark fate that awaits the other girls at the hands of "The Beast," who truly believes that people will only evolve to more advanced life forms if they have endured suffering. When he sees that Cooke has, he feels a link, tells her to rejoice, and spares her, even after surviving a gunshot with hardly a serious wound to show for it, and after bending steel. He almost seems superhuman and, in fact, that is what he has become. But he lets her go, and we see him disappear without a trace, until this movie. Right at the end of that movie, however, we see David Dunn, who we find clearly remembers.
So, we then know that the sequel to "Unbreakable" will actually involve the three main "superhero" characters from these two movies, and that is where I pick back up with the review of "Glass."
Glass Spoiler Free Movie Review:
Okay, so, what can I say about this movie without spoiling it for those who have not yet seen it, but intend to?
First of all, let me say this: in some respects, it is a very typical M. Night Shyamalan movie in one respect: some people are going to love it, and some people are going to hate it. When the first reviews came out, they were brutal. Literally, for the first week or so, I did not see a single positive review of this movie.
Uh-oh.
Still, I intended to see it. My son and I both loved "Unbreakable," and I had rented "Split," which we both enjoyed, as well - even if I had felt a bit guilty showing my still young son such an incredibly dark movie, with very grown up content. But it was a very good movie, dark or not, and so there was really no doubt of my intention to go see this latest movie.
And you know what? I liked this movie! My son loved it, and he said that he enjoyed it more than the original "Unbreakable!"
Yet, let me also say this: I can understand how many people were disappointed. In fact, it is probably inevitable that some people are going to be disappointed with it, while others will really like it or even love it. It is a definite conclusion to the trilogy, and will inevitably disappoint some people in several ways. Given that the two prior movies were so different, and with different characters, the amount of attention that each receives, and the way that each is portrayed, will surely not be to everyone's liking.
Still, the portrayals, even with certain limitations, made sense to me. You might not like how little time some of the characters receive for stretches of this movie. This is particularly true of Elijah Price/Mr. Glass, who literally does not speak for probably the entire first half of the movie. Only Allison Reynolds (The Basket Case in "The Breakfast Club, played by Ally Sheedy) comes to mind as someone who went anywhere near as long as a main character in a movie without speaking for a huge chink of it. So, that is strange, and likely not going to please many fans of "Unbreakable."
Also, this is a slow-paced movie, much like both of the predecessors, but particularly "Unbreakable." The tension slowly builds, like a slow cooker. And again, let me reiterate: I can understand why so many people apparently did not like this movie, based on the reviews, and the poor ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. The action is limited, compared to more conventional super hero movies, particularly those with Marvel and DC Comics. There is action, but it will not overwhelm with special effects, nor should it. This is a different kind of a movie, and personally, I believe that there should be fewer movies that try to overwhelm you with their special effects, rather than more of them.
This movie is more about the story line. With three movies, you have gotten to know the main characters involved here, even if the impact on each was not necessarily very visible. But the events in each movie had an impact on each of the three main "super hero" characters, and it all comes to a boil here.
Ultimately, this movie will inevitably leave some feeling disappointed. I heard one review suggest that the ending was predictable, and I have to say that I was not expecting the ending quite the way that it materialized. Predictable is not really the description that I would use. And, if you keep an open mind, and do not go in with certain expectations of what will happen based on the past movies, than you may enjoy it. Without giving it away, all I can really say is that it is a product of it's time, with the confusion and the misdirection that basically seems to define where we are as a society. This movie offers that in miniature, and after watching it, it did leave an impact. It got me to thinking quite a bit about it (which is why this first review took so long), but after that, it became hard to imagine a more fitting final chapter in this trilogy.
So, please do go and watch this movie if you are a fan of either "Unbreakable" and/or "Split," but again, try to keep an open mind. There will be twists and turns that you might not expect, as well as an ending that may catch you off guard (or maybe it will not, depending on your expectations). I enjoyed it, but again, it will not be for everybody. For some of the guys who like all explosive action, all of the time, then this movie will surely feel underwhelming. But if you like an actual story more than special effects, this one offers far more than the negative reviews might suggest!
So, this other M. Night Shyamalan movie was in this pack, and it was called "Unbreakable." At that time, spending a bit of money on an unknown quantity did not phase me, and so I went ahead and bought the two-pack. As it turns out, I was glad that I did, because it turned out to be a great movie! And just like "The Sixth Sense," there is a twist ending that you just do not see coming.
Now, I do not want to go too far in reviewing that movie, because there are probably many who have not yet seen the movie, but who would like to see it for the first time. And if any such people happen on this review, and were to find out the twist at the very end, it would undeniably completely alter their experience of the movie, much like it would for the "Sixth Sense."
So, let me recap the original two movies first, and please keep in mind that in this review, there will be spoilers of both "Unbreakable" and "Split." So, if you have not seen one or both movies, and intend to at some point, you might want to stop reading at this point, and return or scroll down past the description to where I return to the spoiler-free review of "Glass."
Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, a security guard who is going through some mediocre times. He seems on the verge of a split with the wife whom he loves dearly, and he is interviewing for a job that would take him away from her and his son. But on the train ride back, there is an accident, as Eastrail 177 derails. David is the sole survivor, and he also does not have a scratch on him. This seems like a miracle, and when David attends the services for the other passengers on that train, we find that a note has been left on David's windshield when he gets back. It is from a comic book store called "Limited Edition," and it asks him a simple question: "How many days of your life have you been sick?"
Naturally, this perplexes Dunn. he thinks, and he cannot remember ever having been sick. It seems weird. he asks his wife, and he asks his boss at work how many sick days he has taken, and inadvertently gives himself a raise as a result. But we know that Dunn wants more serious answers. When he meets Elijah Price (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson), the owner of a comic-themed art store, Limited Edition, he is more alarmed than enlightened. Price delivers a lecture, basically suggesting that Dunn is a real-life superhero. His son believes that he is a superhero from the beginning, but Dunn is not convinced. This sounds ludicrous to Dunn, but eventually, he himself comes to believe it when he continually finds himself able to go beyond his previous physical limits repeatedly.
Elijah Price was born with a disease, Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, which he explains is a rare disease that basically makes his bones easy to break. He has suffered many such injuries throughout his life, starting from the moment he was born. His physically weak condition gives him this rather unhealthy obsession with the idea of a hero who would be on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, someone who never seems to get sick or injured. He becomes convinced that Dunn is this man, and that Dunn is a real-life superhero.
In time, Dunn gets past his original skepticism, and turns to Price for guidance. Price tells him to go where people are. Dunn does so, and goes to a crowded train station. There, he uses his powers of perception (he gets visions about people when he touches them), and he eventually finds a psychopath who works as a custodian at the train station, but who has murdered the parents of a successful family. He also has the kids tied up in their own bedroom, and is continuing to create havoc. Dunn follows him there, and confronts him, ultimately killing him. But he also keeps his identity secret by wearing a hood over his head, and the news reports are of some unidentified hero who has saved the children. But there is a twist, of course, as in all of Shyamalan's movies. When Price and Dunn meet, Price insists on shaking hands, knowing what this will do. When Dunn shakes Price's hand, he has another vision, and finds out that Price has actually been the cause of numerous major disasters, one of which was the derailing of Eastrail 177. He had done so in order to find a real-life superhero, in order to confirm that he himself is an actual, real-life villain. The name that former classmates used to taunt him with, "Mr. Glass," he now embraces as his villain name.
In the second, very dark movie, "Split," Kevin Wendell Crumb (very capably played by James McAvoy).is a mentally unbalanced young man with who has a very serious dissociative identity disorder (DID), with no less than 24 personalities. Most of them seem relatively benign, but Crumb has nevertheless taken to kidnapping teenage girls. One of his newest personalities is someone who is referred to as "The Beast." He literally is like a beast in many ways, and we find out later that he likely developed this character while working at the Philadelphia Zoo, and observing the various beasts at the zoo. This Beast is talked about for most of the movie, but his therapist, Dr. Karen Fletcher (played by Betty Buckley), has so far identified only 23 personalities, and does not believe that "the Beast," is real.
The movie grows more intense, as one of the girls, Casey Cooke (played by Anya-Josephine Taylor-Joy) seems a bit more in tune, and better able to both obtain knowledge from, and even sympathize with, her captor, clearly gives her the edge. As the movie progresses, we find out that Cooke has one very important thing in common: they both had been severely abused throughout their childhood, and Cooke may still be actively abused by her uncle, who has become her legal guardian following the death of her father. This is the reason why the other girls who were captured along with her (classmates, but not really friends) has clearly always stayed away from her, because she always acted different, in ways that they could not understand. But what appears to them as a weakness turns out to be a strength, and it is this strength that she developed while being abused that ultimately spares her the very dark fate that awaits the other girls at the hands of "The Beast," who truly believes that people will only evolve to more advanced life forms if they have endured suffering. When he sees that Cooke has, he feels a link, tells her to rejoice, and spares her, even after surviving a gunshot with hardly a serious wound to show for it, and after bending steel. He almost seems superhuman and, in fact, that is what he has become. But he lets her go, and we see him disappear without a trace, until this movie. Right at the end of that movie, however, we see David Dunn, who we find clearly remembers.
So, we then know that the sequel to "Unbreakable" will actually involve the three main "superhero" characters from these two movies, and that is where I pick back up with the review of "Glass."
Glass Spoiler Free Movie Review:
Okay, so, what can I say about this movie without spoiling it for those who have not yet seen it, but intend to?
First of all, let me say this: in some respects, it is a very typical M. Night Shyamalan movie in one respect: some people are going to love it, and some people are going to hate it. When the first reviews came out, they were brutal. Literally, for the first week or so, I did not see a single positive review of this movie.
Uh-oh.
Still, I intended to see it. My son and I both loved "Unbreakable," and I had rented "Split," which we both enjoyed, as well - even if I had felt a bit guilty showing my still young son such an incredibly dark movie, with very grown up content. But it was a very good movie, dark or not, and so there was really no doubt of my intention to go see this latest movie.
And you know what? I liked this movie! My son loved it, and he said that he enjoyed it more than the original "Unbreakable!"
Yet, let me also say this: I can understand how many people were disappointed. In fact, it is probably inevitable that some people are going to be disappointed with it, while others will really like it or even love it. It is a definite conclusion to the trilogy, and will inevitably disappoint some people in several ways. Given that the two prior movies were so different, and with different characters, the amount of attention that each receives, and the way that each is portrayed, will surely not be to everyone's liking.
Still, the portrayals, even with certain limitations, made sense to me. You might not like how little time some of the characters receive for stretches of this movie. This is particularly true of Elijah Price/Mr. Glass, who literally does not speak for probably the entire first half of the movie. Only Allison Reynolds (The Basket Case in "The Breakfast Club, played by Ally Sheedy) comes to mind as someone who went anywhere near as long as a main character in a movie without speaking for a huge chink of it. So, that is strange, and likely not going to please many fans of "Unbreakable."
Also, this is a slow-paced movie, much like both of the predecessors, but particularly "Unbreakable." The tension slowly builds, like a slow cooker. And again, let me reiterate: I can understand why so many people apparently did not like this movie, based on the reviews, and the poor ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. The action is limited, compared to more conventional super hero movies, particularly those with Marvel and DC Comics. There is action, but it will not overwhelm with special effects, nor should it. This is a different kind of a movie, and personally, I believe that there should be fewer movies that try to overwhelm you with their special effects, rather than more of them.
This movie is more about the story line. With three movies, you have gotten to know the main characters involved here, even if the impact on each was not necessarily very visible. But the events in each movie had an impact on each of the three main "super hero" characters, and it all comes to a boil here.
Ultimately, this movie will inevitably leave some feeling disappointed. I heard one review suggest that the ending was predictable, and I have to say that I was not expecting the ending quite the way that it materialized. Predictable is not really the description that I would use. And, if you keep an open mind, and do not go in with certain expectations of what will happen based on the past movies, than you may enjoy it. Without giving it away, all I can really say is that it is a product of it's time, with the confusion and the misdirection that basically seems to define where we are as a society. This movie offers that in miniature, and after watching it, it did leave an impact. It got me to thinking quite a bit about it (which is why this first review took so long), but after that, it became hard to imagine a more fitting final chapter in this trilogy.
So, please do go and watch this movie if you are a fan of either "Unbreakable" and/or "Split," but again, try to keep an open mind. There will be twists and turns that you might not expect, as well as an ending that may catch you off guard (or maybe it will not, depending on your expectations). I enjoyed it, but again, it will not be for everybody. For some of the guys who like all explosive action, all of the time, then this movie will surely feel underwhelming. But if you like an actual story more than special effects, this one offers far more than the negative reviews might suggest!
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