Glass marks the ultimate finale to M. Night Shyamalan's superhero trilogy. With the huge commercial success of Split, it would have been easy for the writer-director to expand the canvas and go big. Instead, he wisely chose to retain the film small as how the previous two were and gave us a fitting conclusion to the stories of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), Kevin Wendell Crumb / The Horde (James McAvoy) and Mr. Glass / Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson).
Starting off with the impressive title credits that resembled what we've seen in 2000's Unbreakable, we follow Overseer; a new moniker for David Dunn's alter ego, tracking The Horde. How they meet, conflict and resolute under a little game orchestrated by Mr. Glass formed the crux.
Shyamalan's script was stunning for the most parts. There were solid introductions for all the main characters, cool callbacks to the predecessors and properly thought-out scenes arrangement. Essentially, he has gathered these three principal characters along with the audiences in a limbo to have a debate between the Lie and the Truth. Are superheroes real or it's all an elaborate illusion? There's a brilliant scene in Act II written just for this, featuring Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) attempting to clear the heads of the detained superhumans. The longer you listen to her, the more you're convinced that this could all be our mind's imagination. This was why when her character was revealed to be a member of superheroes-extinguishing force, it was hard-hitting yet smart of Shyamalan to be able to introduce another familiar yet new element into his comic book universe's lore! Only if there were more sequences for this mental tug of war betwixt what's real and what's not for the characters, Act II would have definitely been sturdier.
Also, Shyamalan's writing paid visits to the past to settle some score or reveal new character info, which was exciting to be honest! Young Elijah breaking his bones during an amusement ride and Kevin's early stages of abuse by his mother were haunting. Most importantly, how Kevin's dad was involved in the same train accident as David Dunn did was surprising! That's when we knew The Horde, just like the Overseer, is a product of Mr. Glass to serve his own selfish purpose again!
The primary issue with Glass was the underwhelming climax. Despite it being realistic, grounded and simple, it definitely fell below expectations. Encounter between The Beast and Overseer was something we've all been hyped up about. To see it handled in an almost nonchalant manner was disappointing to say the least. It could be due to The Beast not being intimidating as he did in Split or the stunts weren't cinematic enough. With all these being said, the tragic ending was apt! Representatives spreading 'words' about the existence of superheroes was a satisfying send-off for sure!
James McAvoy's performance was amazing! There were scenes where he had to switch from one personality to another within seconds whenever he's hacked by the lights, do watch out for those! Heart-to-heart conversation between Kevin and Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) was moving to an extent, and when it was finished with Hedwig's quip, the humor really worked! Speaking of humor, Shyamalan's cameo telling Joseph Dunn (Spencer Treat Clark) to allow his father for a walk was hilarious.
As far as the technical prowess is concerned, there's minimal to complain about here. West Dylan Thordson's score was pulsating, the usage of colors were simply fantastic and Mike Gioulakis' cinematography was great, although one must point out that the POV shots during action sequences were awkward that it took us out of the moment. Aged makeup effect for Elijah's mum could have been less artificial as well.