Glass Premiere
Glass
Glass

At A Glance

The much anticipated follow-up to M. Night Shyamalan’s highly regarded Unbreakable and Split, Glass will demonstrate the director’s ultimate vision for his alternate superhero movie.  

 

 

Film Details

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Released by Buena Vista International

2019, 129 minutes, 15

In UK Cinemas 18th January

Cast

James McAvoy as The Hoard
Bruce Willis as David Dunn
Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price
Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke
Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellie Staple
Spencer Treat Clark as Joseph Dunn

Glass - UK Premiere Interview

Premiere Scene’s Claire Bueno and Anthony Bueno were looking for some earth shattering interviews as director M. Night Shyamalan, actors Samuel L. Jackson and James McAvoy attend the red carpet UK Premiere at the Curzon Mayfair. And we weren’t disappointed!

Join us as we as M. Night Shyamalan if his story has deviated from his original concept of the trilogy, Samuel L. Jackson about the extraordinary vision of Shyamalan’s writing and James McAvoy about how he approached portraying a character with multiple personality disorder.

Glass - Review

By Ryan Holloway

Nine years since Unbreakable, Shyamalan’s edgier take on the superhero movie, and three years since the critically acclaimed Split, Glass comes to UK cinemas on a thunderous storm of fan anticipation, but does it fly?

When Bruce Willis’ David Dunn turned up at the end of Split it sent fans into meltdown, and why shouldn’t it? Split was a triumphant return for Shyamalan who has been frustratingly hit and miss over the years.

It wasn’t long until the director announced that he was working on a follow up to 2000’s Unbreakable, which was not only a hit for Shyamalan but also for it’s star Willis who himself has been in need of a career uplift. Fans were excited and with Split being such a success both commercially and critically, the signs were good.

Glass concludes a trilogy for the superhero story and even with anticipation so high, it couldn’t possibly fail could it? Well, the answer is yes…and no. Instead of a rousing climax to 19 years of foreplay, Glass is a mixed bag of genius and utterly baffling nonsense.

Things start out well enough, we see David (Willis) and his son Joseph (Clark) as a father son duo of sorts. David, dubbed The Overseer, who is hunted by the police, who have made no progress in almost 20 years it seems, prowls the streets fighting crimes while Joseph is the man in the chair telling him where to go. David’s main mission is to find and ultimately stop The Beast who has taken more victims. After some nifty sleuthing it leads to an early showdown between David and The Beast but uh-oh, they are both caught in the act and detained by Psychologist Dr. Ellie Staple (Paulson) backed up by a S.W.A.T team and now the real game begins, David, The Hoard and Mr. Glass are all held in the same facility as the good Dr. Staple tries to convince them that they are all deluded and not really superheroes.

Beyond this point, its hard to go into the film any further without major spoilers but what follows is a visually stunning yet strangely lacking in suspense second half that is sure to be divisive among the hardcore Unbreakable fandom.

It’s no surprise that Glass is beautiful to look at, Shyamalan is a master at creating a world that is a joy to be a part of, it’s also a little faster paced than his previous efforts, probably because he knows what audiences now expect from a hero movie no matter how unconventional.

Glass

Performance-wise Glass is strong, Samuel L. Jackson is wonderfully subtle as Elijah Price and turns on the maniacal better than anyone. Bruce Willis has been criticized for some of his recent performances, and quite rightly to be honest, but here he turns up and gives us full Willis. Its not a role that demands too much of course but it’s so much fun to see him return as David Dunn and he clearly likes working with the director who has given him his most critically acclaimed roles.

Sarah Paulson is always incredible and her role as Dr. Staple is no exception, she fills the screen and is captivating with that otherworldly charm that has seen her become one of the best actors in recent years.

That brings us to James McAvoy who as The Horde gets to play around with 24 characters which he performs the hell out of. He is truly the star of this film and proves that Split was no fluke, he turns from scary to funny to intense so effortlessly that he should really have been nominated for every award going three years ago.

One major loss for the film is the lack of screen time for Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke who is one of Hollywood’s best up and coming actors. She is sadly reduced to the damsel in distress role, which is a real kick in the teeth after her strong performance in Split.

 

The main issue for Glass is that it takes itself so seriously that it can’t help but be laughable at times. During a fight scene between Dunn and The Beast, it looks like a superhero movie before the visual effects are added, so it can’t help but look silly. Add to this the non-stop and, by the end, nauseating need to describe how comics work and how what is playing out must fall into those conventions, we start to wonder whether this film would actually have worked better by giving in and being a more conventional film.

The end, no spoilers here, also feels so out of touch with the world that it just comes off as dull and unimaginative, which is the real twist to this latest effort from Shyamalan.

It’s more Glass half empty than half full, which is a shame.

“I just played 20 odd people, non of them were mentally ill." - James McAvoy

Glass - Cast & Crew Interviews

Samuel L. Jackson interview

Samuel L. Jackson interviews

M. Night Shyamalan interview

Glass - Official Trailer

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