47. Glass; movie review

GLASS
Cert 15
129 mins
BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong violence, bloody images

It took me two weeks to get around to the biggest box office hit in the UK this year so far because it has had such a pasting.
Inevitably, the criticism was as overblown as hype usually is. Glass was not as bad as they say but way short of the brilliance of Unbreakable and Split.
And it has a truly annoying finale which left me flicking through the internet on my phone to see if there is an explainer in the credits.
There is not - I was left to presume that M. Night Shyalaman had expected us to come to our conclusion over our 'tasty debrief', as the Cineworld advert suggests.
I always find that a bit of a cop-out. For me, movies should have a start, middle and end. Not a bit that hangs in the air.
The big plus of Glass is the restoration to the big screen of James McAvoy's Kevin Wendell Crumb - or the many personalities which make up his complex character.
As in Split, McAvoy somehow manages to play with conviction the myriad personalities which include a nine-year-old child, posh middle-aged women and a beast who can speed across walls on all fours at dazzling speed.
The movie begins with Crumb holding four teenage girls hostage in a disused warehouse.
On his scent is David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the owner of an electrical shop who happens to have freak strength and is only vulnerable to water.
Inevitably the two have a right old set-to but, despite their extraordinary respective strengths, they are captured and taken to a federal facility for 'research' purposes.
It turns out that the psychologist in charge (Sarah Paulson) also has Dunn's nemesis, Mr Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) up her sleeve.
It did strike me that, while the facility is rigged up with all sorts of security devices, it is bizarre how few guards there are despite the trio being the most dangerous inmates in the country.
I digress. The shrink goes over lots of old ground and even introduces Crumb's former crush (Anya Taylor-Joy) without having an obvious purpose.
Meanwhile, McAvoy takes centre stage, Willis mumbles a bit and Jackson sits in a wheelchair.
And it all leads to a neat conclusion with all ends tied up. But are they? Shyalaman spends the final ten minutes trying his best to undo the previous two hours.
I roll my eyes.

Reasons to watch: Its the combo of Shift and Unbreakable
Reasons to avoid: It lives up to neither

Laughs: A couple of chuckles
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? Some location shooting is known to have taken place at the Ontario Street Comic Book Shop in Philadelphia, which is the same premises used for Elijah Price's Unbreakable comic shop in 2000.

The final word. M.Night Shyamalan: "The script is my longest script. We ended up shooting everything and then we trimmed it down to the movie that you saw. Those things that are on the cutting room floor that you’ll see on the Blu-ray took time and money and I would’ve tried to be harsher in the writing of it and said, “If your child is going to get taken from you, what 10 pages do you lose?” That kind of exercise." Coming soon

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