Dr.Samurai
2019-01-23, 10:04 AM
I saw Glass opening weekend. Unbreakable is one of my favorite movies, and when my brother and I were sitting in the theaters watching Split, I recognized the music at the end and realized the connection before the reveal. It was quite an exciting moment. I was pretty stoked for Glass, and while my excitement and anticipation may have colored my thoughts about the movie after seeing it, I still have to say I was disappointed. It may be that a second viewing might change that, now knowing what I'm in for. But I don't think it will shake the feeling that this was a let down.
M Knight funded Split and Glass (I believe), so there's no conflict here between his vision and anyone else's. This is very much the story he wants to tell for his own original characters (insofar as his own resources allowed of course). Perhaps the fact that he went through this effort after nearly two decades adds an unfair expectation for the trilogy, but the events of Glass seem anti-climactic. I'm left wondering what he wants us to take away from these characters, which may be the point (or I may be a dunce). But his characteristic twists in this movie don't seem earned or set up well. They happen and you're sort of like... oh, ok, I didn't know that was a thing we were really concerned about.
Has anyone else seen it?
Of all the characters I was really looking forward to seeing David and Elijah. What would their interactions be like? Elijah created David, and in assuming his destiny as a hero, David has Elijah imprisoned. I was looking forward to this dynamic, but it doesn't really ever take place. Elijah doesn't speak for nearly half the movie. David has few lines, similar to Unbreakable, but whereas he is still the focus of that movie, Glass focuses much more on the Horde/Beast. McAvoy is incredible, but this really felt like a sequel to Split as opposed to the final movie in a trilogy with three main characters.
David doesn't have much going on in this movie, except questioning his abilities very much like he did in the first movie. Then he learns the truth at the end before dying by a regular mook. I have to say this was very disappointing.
Elijah's plan seems great, but then you realize it was never his plan at all. His real plan was to stream the battle outside the facility. For me, I never really questioned why people don't know there are others out there with abilities. David lived his whole life not really wondering why he never got sick or never broke a bone. I just assumed either other people also had "realistic" or "muted" superpowers that can fly under the radar, OR David is just one in a billion. Afterall, Elijah didn't really consider himself to have super powers in Unbreakable, he just had very fragile bones. He looked for someone that had unbreakable bones, someone on the opposite side of the spectrum, and found David. But I got the impression that comics are tall tales inspired by real life people with extraordinary, but "realistic" abilities, and so it was never a question of why weren't there more of these people, why didn't the world know? They were rare and inspired an art form that exaggerated their abilities.
But the movie Glass has a twist that there is a secret organization that actually prevents the world from knowing about all of these super people, and Elijah's master plan is to foil these people and reveal the super people to the world. This all sort of falls flat for me, as these were never really questions I was asking. Also, Elijah's plan at the tower is to have a showdown to reveal the supers to the world. The twist is that he is actually doing it in front of the facility. Doesn't do much for me.
Additionally, the line about "this is an origin story" threw me off as well. I had already been thinking that Casey might have some abilities because of the comment about "true love and compassion", it seemed like maybe they were setting her up to have powers. And Joseph was so involved, I thought when Elijah said that and then they killed David, Joseph would manifest some powers and Casey as well. But I guess the origin story is that the world knows and now more super people will reveal themselves? I don't know.
M Knight funded Split and Glass (I believe), so there's no conflict here between his vision and anyone else's. This is very much the story he wants to tell for his own original characters (insofar as his own resources allowed of course). Perhaps the fact that he went through this effort after nearly two decades adds an unfair expectation for the trilogy, but the events of Glass seem anti-climactic. I'm left wondering what he wants us to take away from these characters, which may be the point (or I may be a dunce). But his characteristic twists in this movie don't seem earned or set up well. They happen and you're sort of like... oh, ok, I didn't know that was a thing we were really concerned about.
Has anyone else seen it?
Of all the characters I was really looking forward to seeing David and Elijah. What would their interactions be like? Elijah created David, and in assuming his destiny as a hero, David has Elijah imprisoned. I was looking forward to this dynamic, but it doesn't really ever take place. Elijah doesn't speak for nearly half the movie. David has few lines, similar to Unbreakable, but whereas he is still the focus of that movie, Glass focuses much more on the Horde/Beast. McAvoy is incredible, but this really felt like a sequel to Split as opposed to the final movie in a trilogy with three main characters.
David doesn't have much going on in this movie, except questioning his abilities very much like he did in the first movie. Then he learns the truth at the end before dying by a regular mook. I have to say this was very disappointing.
Elijah's plan seems great, but then you realize it was never his plan at all. His real plan was to stream the battle outside the facility. For me, I never really questioned why people don't know there are others out there with abilities. David lived his whole life not really wondering why he never got sick or never broke a bone. I just assumed either other people also had "realistic" or "muted" superpowers that can fly under the radar, OR David is just one in a billion. Afterall, Elijah didn't really consider himself to have super powers in Unbreakable, he just had very fragile bones. He looked for someone that had unbreakable bones, someone on the opposite side of the spectrum, and found David. But I got the impression that comics are tall tales inspired by real life people with extraordinary, but "realistic" abilities, and so it was never a question of why weren't there more of these people, why didn't the world know? They were rare and inspired an art form that exaggerated their abilities.
But the movie Glass has a twist that there is a secret organization that actually prevents the world from knowing about all of these super people, and Elijah's master plan is to foil these people and reveal the super people to the world. This all sort of falls flat for me, as these were never really questions I was asking. Also, Elijah's plan at the tower is to have a showdown to reveal the supers to the world. The twist is that he is actually doing it in front of the facility. Doesn't do much for me.
Additionally, the line about "this is an origin story" threw me off as well. I had already been thinking that Casey might have some abilities because of the comment about "true love and compassion", it seemed like maybe they were setting her up to have powers. And Joseph was so involved, I thought when Elijah said that and then they killed David, Joseph would manifest some powers and Casey as well. But I guess the origin story is that the world knows and now more super people will reveal themselves? I don't know.