Glass (2019)

Glass (2019): written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan; starring James McAvoy (Kevin Wendell Crumb), Bruce Willis (David Dunn), Samuel L. Jackson (Elijah Price), Anya Taylor-Joy (Casey Cooke), Sarah Paulson (Dr. Staple), Spencer Treat Clark (Joseph Dunn), and Charlayne Woodard (Mrs. Price):

In this sequel to 2000's Unbreakable, M. Night Shyamalan returns to his own private world of super-heroes, super-villains, and the ordinary people all around them. A very subdued Bruce Willis reprises his Unbreakable role as reluctant superhero David Dunn, 19 years older and now getting an assist from his now-adult son playing Oracle on the earpiece.

Samuel L. Jackson's Elijah Price -- aka Mr. Glass -- has been doped up in a psychiatric wing for the last two decades or so after Dunn handed him over to the police for his role in the deaths of hundreds. A third super-powered piece has been added, however -- James McAvoy's super-powered multiple personality/Alter The Beast from Split (2016). Dunn is on his trail for the kidnapping and murder of a couple of groups of teen-aged girls, racing the clock before The Beast kills his next kidnap victims, a group of cheerleaders.

M. Night Shyamalan manages some pretty interesting twists here, though many found them obnoxious or off-putting. His take on super-heroes seems to me to be a complaint against the homogenized corporate movie-super-heroes who took over the box office since the release of Unbreakable. Indeed, the first 'contemporary' superhero universe movie came out the same year -- Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000). 

M. Night Shyamalan's heroes and villains mostly have to obey the laws of physics, More importantly, he posits them -- especially his superheroes -- as Folk Figures about whom the classic superhero comic books were myths and legends once-removed. Does this mean that there's a sinister global conglomerate that seeks to control those with superpowers as if they were just some sort of product?

Well, we'll see. Glass may have a controversial ending, and M. Night Shyamalan as always does some things that seem, well, a little goofy. Nonetheless, this is a fine film both featuring and about superheroes, supervillains, and the idea that in a world of crushing media conformity, magic may still exist -- real magic, dangerous magic, and maybe the real hero of a piece doesn't become apparent until the very end. Highly recommended.