GLASS Director M. Night Shyamalan Addresses The Movie's Controversial Ending - MAJOR SPOILERS

Glass' ending has left everyone talking after the movie opened this weekend, & now director M. Night Shyamalan has weighed in on that and how the Unbreakable and Split sequel performed at test screenings.

By JoshWilding - Jan 21, 2019 12:01 PM EST

Filed Under: Sci-Fi

Glass ends with the movie's three leads being killed off by a mysterious organisation who have spent the past 10,000 years taking out superpowered individuals before they're able to fully embrace their abilities and create a world like those we see in comic books. It was a shocking twist and the apparent cause of the absolutely fantastic movie's negative reviews.

In a new interview, director M. Night Shyamalan has weighed in on the big twist and confirms that it was always the ending he had in mind when he was shooting Unbreakable 19 years ago.

"I did. I didn't know if I could have the balls to do it. But I did. That was in my head and I kind of said, "Maybe we could do this at the end" and chuckled about it. Can you do that? I didn't know whether I'd have the fortitude to keep going and do it, but I'm so glad that I did. Closure is important to me, as a narrator, as a storyteller. How do we get to a definitive end so that you understood someone had something to say specifically and not then continuing. It's always been on my mind how to do this. Obviously, I've never done a sequel before and wanting to make sure it was from the right motivations, from the characters themselves and that world and keeping a certain level of purity about it. I think that the shelf life of the three movies will increase dramatically because of it."

As mentioned above, a lot of reviewers seemingly couldn't see past the movie's ending to judge Glass on its other merits and when Shyamalan was asked about how audiences at test screenings reaction, you may be surprised by what the filmmaker had to say.

"The test screenings were really crazy. We did do them and they were crazy because audiences just went with us. They just were not polarized in any way by anything that we just mentioned.… It was one of my highest testing movies ever. This thing we are talking about [the ending] was refreshing to them. That we were doing the opposite of everything. It was really contained and it was unusual and thought-provoking."

Finally, talk turned to the ever-growing divide between audiences and critics and while the director wasn't willing to comment on the reviews for the movie he sank $20 million of his own money into, he made it clear that he simply wants to create stories that audiences intheaters will enjoy.

"Definitely don't want to comment on that [the reviews]," he said. "That's not my purview. The less energy spent in that arena the better. All of it should go toward making the highest quality audience movies that I can possibly make. Really pushing cinema to tell accessible stories. That's the balancing act I'm trying to study and learn over the years."

Glass scored a solid $89 million in North America this weekend and all the signs are pointing to it being a hit (Disney is already touting its huge opening in the UK). While the ending will no doubt be talked about for years to come, an argument could be made that it was a much better conclusion than many fans had hoped for. What do you guys think?

For a recap of what we thought did and didn't work
in the movie, hit the "View List" button below!

Did Work: James McAvoy Lets Loose

Wow. If you thought James McAvoy was good in Split, then expand to have your mind blown when you go and watch Glass.

The actor is absolutely phenomenal and we're introduced to a lot of new personalities, some of which are pretty funny and others that will totally freak you out. Honestly, this is probably what we should have seen in Shyamalan's last movie but if the filmmaker was holding out on us, it was worth the wait.

McAvoy is a tremendous actor and it's a blast to see him get the spotlight here; it's fair to say that this movie belongs to him.

Didn't Work: Budget Constraints

During the final act, we learn that Mr. Glass wants to pit David Dunn and The Beast against each other in front of the entire world at the opening of a skyscraper in order to let everyone know that superpowered individuals are indeed real.

We ultimately get a clever explanation for why that fight doesn't happen (and it might have felt totally out of place in a series which has never been as over the top and grand in scale as Marvel and DC Comics movies, anyway) ,but the budget constraints are clear to see at this point and a legitimate disappointment depending on what you were hoping to get out of this "team-up" adventure.

Did Work: The Big Twist

This is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, so of course there's a massive twist! The shocker here is that Dunn, Kevin, and Glass all end up being killed by a secret society who have spent the past 10,000 years taking out those with powers to stop them being able to rise up and put the world in danger.

Paulson's psychiatrist was basically just trying to find a humane way to deal with them by making them think they don't really have powers (which works well enough that it might fool you too).

This is obviously going to p*ss a lot of people off, especially as the three popular leads are killed and the stage is set for a "universe" full of superpowered individuals. That leaves the door open for Shyamalan to tell a lot of different stories, but it honestly feels like things should just be left here.

Didn't Work: Are These Heroes And Villains Really "Super"?

Mr. Glass has a plan and manages to let the world know that superheroes and supervillains exist by recording the battle between David and Kevin and then sending it to each of their respective loved ones (they then leak it online and undo that secret society's machinations).

While I'm sure that footage would get people talking (steel bars are bent, cars are flipped over, and reinforced doors are broken down), I don't feel entirely convinced that any of it would be enough to make people think that superpowered individuals are real as any of it could have been doctored or the work of two bizarrely strong individuals.

It would be incredibly frustrating for a spinoff to take things back a step by having people debate its validity and a little too much for it to have convinced everyone because this fight really needed something big and awe-inspiring to have happened in my opinion.

Did Work: Worlds Collide

When it was revealed that Split was set in the same world as Unbreakable, a lot of minds were blown. There's been a lot of doubt surrounding whether or not Shyamalan could pull this off, but it works really well and Kevin ends up slotting into David and Mr. Glass' world effortlessly.

While the modern era of superhero movies has made team-ups commonplace, a lot of studios and filmmakers struggle to make combining franchises work, but this promised crossover doesn't disappoint and it's just a shame we're not going to see more of this lot on screen together again.

Did Work: Mr. Glass' Story Arc

Mr. Glass' story is brought to an end in this movie and while it's a shame to say goodbye to Samuel L. Jackson's villain, his arc is tied up in a way that's arguably even more satisfying that David's (that just feels tragic and frustrating and might explain why so many have turned on Glass).

His final words should strike a chord with moviegoers, especially after a flashback to his youth earlier in the movie. He's the definition of a tragic villain and I think fans will walk away satisfied with this even if the way things end for David and Kevin don't quite live up to expectations.

Didn't Work: The Supporting Players

Sarah Paulson's Dr. Staple is absolutely fantastic from start to finish but some of the other supporting characters in this movie aren't quite up to snuff. Anya Taylor-Joy really doesn't deliver the same way she has in other movies, while Spencer Treat Clark is pretty wooden and Charlayne Woodard looks pretty silly in her old lady makeup! This doesn't ruin the movie but they're the weak link here.

Did Work: M. Night Shyamalan's Cameo

In Unbreakable, M. Night Shyamalan made a cameo appearance as a football fan who Dunn learns has been dealing drugs. Then, in Split, he plays a security guard watching over the building in which Dr. Karen Fletcher is murdered by The Beast.

Here, he can be seen in the security shop owned by Dunn buying equipment for that same building. He recognises David and notes that when they crossed paths at the football stadium all those years ago, he decided to take a different path in life and went on the straight and narrow.

This is a cracking Easter Egg and one longtime fans of these films will definitely appreciate.

Did Work: Another Big Twist

You didn't think there was just one twist, did you?

During the course of the movie, it's revealed that Kevin's father was on the same train as David and, as a result, Mr. Glass is responsible for The Beast's creation. Had his dad not died, Kevin would have never been so badly abused by his mother and his monstrous persona likely wouldn't have manifested in such a horrifying fashion.

Upon finding this out, The Beast murders Glass, basically breaking every bone in his body in the process and arguably giving the villain what he deserves.

Did Work: A Whole New "Universe"

Glass ends with those who survived talking about the aforementioned leak leading to the creation of a whole new universe; is that a sign Shyamalan is going Cloverfield with the Unbreakable franchise by launching a series of spinoffs featuring heroes and villains?

Given the box office success the movie is seemingly going to achieve, that certainly seems like a likely possibility and while it could be fun to see, it definitely feels like this story is over and should be left alone. Then again, if we get new characters in new locations, it really wouldn't change what we see here and could lead to a lot of very exciting possibilities on the big and small screens.

Donald Sutherland, Star Of THE HUNGER GAMES, DON'T LOOK NOW & KELLY'S HEROES, Passes Away Aged 88

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105 Comments

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GhostDog - 1/21/2019, 12:11 PM

I like M. Night but he needs to get OUT OF HIS OWN ASS once in a while.

Vigor - 1/21/2019, 12:16 PM

@BlackBeltJones - I hear you. But sometimes it's people's own hubrus that keeps them producing good work

GhostDog - 1/21/2019, 12:18 PM

@Vigor - you can tell where his ego took over during different parts of the film.

I liked everything mostly up until the end. It works for him in some ways and then its his greatest weakness sometimes.

JoJo1982 - 1/21/2019, 12:17 PM

I dug the ending

Chewtoy - 1/21/2019, 12:18 PM

Critics just don't get his genius... he'll tell you so himself. And then make how 'critics don't get genius' the subtext of his films.

GhostDog - 1/21/2019, 12:20 PM

@Chewtoy - or have the critic kill themselves haha

MosquitoFarmer - 1/21/2019, 12:24 PM

@BlackBeltJones - Yeah, that was a bit too much. As an idea it could have worked, but this was just too obvious and now pretty cringey. Having said that, when I saw Lady in the Water back when I did enjoy it.

MosquitoFarmer - 1/21/2019, 12:19 PM

I liked the train twist and the final Elijah's evil mastermind twist of exposing the supers. The super-secret society part (which I don't consider much of a twist) just missed the mark a bit for me. At the very least, it should have just been a more standard government cover-up sort of deal.

GhostDog - 1/21/2019, 12:22 PM

@MosquitoFarmer - govt would've been a better alternative. Secret society part just felt so foreign to the tone and universe of these films.

Or at least maybe a cabal of superheroes/villians like david and kevin who wanted to stay secret and didn't like how open kevin, Dunn, and elijah were.

1 2 3

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GLASS Director M. Night Shyamalan Addresses The Movie's Controversial Ending - MAJOR SPOILERS

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