On the 18th January 2019 Glass was released world-wide. It is the sequel to both Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016), using the original actors from both set of films, bringing the two concepts together. Starring big names like Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy and Bruce Willis. All 3 characters have been put into a mental institution and are being collectively examined by Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) as she believes they consider themselves as superhumans, which she is trying to prove wrong. Despite their differences, the 3 have to come together to try to prove the world that they are real.
Unbreakable was the original film from the trilogy, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis. Jackson portrays Elijah Price, also known as Mr Glass, who was born with a rare genetic disorder which left his bones extremely brittle. As an adult he caused multiple ‘accidents’ which resulted in hundreds of people dying, so that he could strengthen a man he believed to be unbreakable. From Split, James McAvoy’s takes on the role of Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man who experiences dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder, is a mental disorder characterised by at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. In Split it is revealed that there are a possible 24 personalities, with the last being known as ‘The Beast’, who is coming to dominate them all. Undoubtedly, ‘The Beast’ returns for Glass, but unlike Split, it is not based around him. In Split McAvoy only played 7 of the 24 personalities, but for Glass we are introduced to 13 more, totalling McAvoy’s character count to 20. He puts on an incredible performance, considering all sorts of small characteristic traits for each one. The film uses an interesting use of camera work, including a dolly zoom, cantered angles and point of view shots (POV). The main plot of the film is the 3 trying to convince the world that they are real ‘superhumans’. The use of POVs help to emphasise this as it puts the audience right in the shoes of that character and it feels like we are being directly spoken to and convinced that this is real, which I found interesting as it is not something that is often used in films. The film overall is phenomenal, especially as James McAvoy, at times, has to play multiple characters in a matter of seconds, really showing what a great job of casting, they did, as it shows how seriously he must have taken it to have been able to do what he did. When I watched the film, I found the ending to be rather unexpected and shocking as it was not something I was expecting to happen as you learn to sympathise with the original ‘antagonists’, making the ending quite surprising as you start to think how they should get away with it, throughout the film.