Anya Taylor-Joy

Breakable

  • Title: Glass
  • IMDb: link

Glass movie reviewGlass is an unusual sequel to a pair of movies made 16 years apart which are, at best, only loosely connected by a single scene. The film unites the main character from 2016’s Split with the primary characters from 2000’s Unbreakable, throwing the unlikely trio together to be examined by a psychiatrist (Sarah Paulson) specializing in a growing mental disorder of people believing themselves to be super-heroes.

If you’ve seen either of the previous two M. Night Shyamalan films you know that David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) are indeed super-human while Elijah “Mr. Glass” Price (Samuel L. Jackson) fits the bill of the genius super-villain to stir the drink of this unusual cocktail.

Knowing Dr. Staple’s (Paulson) premise is faulty makes it hard to legitimize her point of view, but it does create tension waiting for the truth to be revealed. While messy in spots, and rather slow to get started, Glass is never boring. As expected, the film features a few Shyamalan twists as it delivers a suitable sequel to Split, even if it doesn’t reach anywhere near the heights of Unbreakable.

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Split

  • Title: Split
  • IMDb: link

Split Blu-ray reviewWhen all is said and done I’m less interested in Split than the movie it may eventually lead to (a true sequel to the writer/director’s best film). That said, M. Night Shyamalan‘s film is easily the best thing he’s created in more than a decade (although given the level of crap he’s put out over that time period that’s hardly a high bar to clear).

Set in an universe Shyamalan once said he had no interest in returning to, James McAvoy stars as a schizophrenic with at least 24 distinct personalities who kidnaps three teenage girls (Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, and Jessica Sula) to feed the darkest of his personalities referred to only as “The Beast.” For at least three-fourths of its running time the movie lacks the tension it should, partially because we’re unsure how seriously to take McAvoy’s character, partially because Shyamalan wants to hide aspects of the man for as long as possible, and partially because the script jumps around a bit too much rather than staying focused on the girls’ dilemma.

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