Shyamalan concludes Eastrail 177 trilogy with ‘Glass’

“THEY called me Mr Glass.”

It’s been 19 years since Elijah Price uttered these immortal words in ‘Unbreakable’ (2000), arguably one of writer-director M Night Shyamalan’s most consummate films.

Picking up almost two decades after we meet Bruce Willis’ David Dunn, a security guard turned superhuman vigilante, ‘Glass’ returns Samuel L Jackson as the title character by way of the critically acclaimed ‘Split’ (2017).

The culmination of the two films with James McAvoy reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb, ‘Glass’ attempts to connect ‘Unbreakable’ and ‘Split’ in a final outing that finds Dunn, Price and Crumb detained in a psychiatric facility as Sarah Paulson’s Dr Ellie Staple tries to convince them they are normal people suffering from some kind of superhero delusion.

As with any Shyamalan film, you’ll be anticipating the twists, but ‘Glass’ takes it a step further by pretty much having you question whether the characters you started watching 19 years ago are just dudes with delusions of grandeur.

Also starring a grown up Spencer Treat Clark (‘Unbreakable’) and ‘Split”s Anja Taylor-Joy, the film knits together previous narratives in a way that seems genius in spots and indolent in others.

Still fascinating with regard to Shyamalan’s take on superheroes rooted in the realism of childhood trauma and disease, survival mechanisms and mental illness, the film begins brilliant before gumming up in banal superhero mythos and exposition.

Obviously making room for some sequels but pretty much done with the primary characters, ‘Glass’ concludes the Eastrail 177 trilogy with signature Shyamalan style that will be most abided, appreciated and esteemed by fans.

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