GLASS Reviews Are In, And The Critics Seem To Be Split On M. Night Shyamalan's Latest
The embargo has now lifted on full reviews for M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, and critics have weighed in on the follow-up to both Unbreakable and Split. Find out what they made of it after the jump...
The reviews are in for M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, and they're... not great.
While quite a few critics appeared to enjoy certain elements of the follow-up to Unbreakable and Split, the majority of them seem to feel that as the final installment of such a promising trilogy, it's a disappointment.
There are still a few critics that have yet to weigh in, but as of right now Glass sits at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes with 26 reviews counted.
You can check out my review here if you haven't already, but for a better idea of the critical consensus, see below.
To view all of the review excerpts at once, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
i09:
The film is a disappointment, but, as a fan, it’s a disappointment I’ll be revisiting again to be sure. It’s a world that remains worth exploring with some interesting twists on what these films have been about for almost two decades. I just wish Glass gave them a more satisfying, complete platform to stand on.
Surely, Shyamalan's dialogue has plenty of clumsy moments. Especially in lines assigned to Dr. Staple and Mr. Glass, we can hear the filmmaker himself, spelling out his thoughts about what comic-book mythology means and how the realists of the world explain away things they can't understand. This is pretty obvious stuff and, at its worst, makes us snicker at Elijah, whose wrongheaded ideas are rooted in personal tragedy: As with other characters' histories of personal suffering, the film is so intent on making sure we get it that it often prevents us from being moved.
Vox:
Sequels are risky for any director; fans have expectations, and filmmakers want to replicate success without simply copying the same formula. But making a crossover sequel like Glass — which would have to draw together not just characters from two different films but the very different tones of those films — seemed especially hard. Shyamalan always swings for the fences. Glass is no exception. This time, though, it’s a swing and a miss.
The Playlist:
Thematically always on the nose and featuring characteristically tin-eared Shyamalan dialogue, “Glass” is still intriguing and watchable in its first half, but frustrates as it buckles under the weight of its pretensions and self-perceived cleverness in the second section. There’s a sense of drama and urgency throughout which helps, but one does get the sense Shyamalan thinks he’s painting his masterpiece.
Shyamalan remains an ambitious, interesting director, shooting close-ups with Dutch angles and embuing even the talky scenes with a palpable sense of trepidation. But his writing here often doesn’t hit the target; where Unbreakable was a smart, simmering deconstruction of comic-book tropes, Glass veers towards the heavy-handed, with characters disseminating his ideas through clumsy dialogue.
Digital Spy:
One of the smartest things that Shyamalan has done with Glass is to not go all blockbuster on us. There are crunching fight scenes, but the movie is more interested in big ideas than massive set pieces. In keeping with the tone of Unbreakable and Split, Glass is a dark psychological thriller and, as promised, its superhero leanings are grounded in real life and interrogating whether they can actually exist.
Den Of Geek:
It’s just too bad that Glass itself, like so many superhero sagas before it, doesn’t quite stick the landing in its third and concluding chapter. Or is the movie itself one giant comment on that curious trope of the genre? As with the wily Mr. Glass, you can never dismiss the notion that Shyamalan has more going on here than we’re readily able to grasp.
Early on in the movie, I had the exciting realization that this was a rare superhero movie that really did feel like anything could happen. None of these characters' fates were predetermined in decades-old books, and both its predecessors prided themselves on surprising audiences. As the movie went on, though, it gradually became apparent that Glass has no such ambitions. It's a superhero movie that seems to believe it's cleverer than other superhero movies because it calls out the genre's staples, but in doing so reveals only that it has no real insight into what makes superheroes click — either the characters themselves, or the genre they comprise.
Total Film:
The film comes close to delivering on its potential when Elijah is back in Mr. Glass mode and the final showdown nears, but the frankly silly denouement earns eye rolls. This is clearly one ‘for the fans’, but those fans might have had their hearts set on a more rousing conclusion.
Vanity Fair:
If you have any friends who are particular fans of this curious and turgid series, I suggest you see Glass with them, as their enthusiasm for all of the film’s onanistic insistence might prove infectious. It did for me, anyway, and I left Glass feeling less annoyed by Shyamalan doing his thing than I may have in the past. It’s actually a little fun to have him around again, demanding our awe.