Glass Parent Guide

Glass reintroduces us to David Dunn (Bruce Willis), Philadelphia crime fighter and vigilante, blessed or cursed with super strength, who debuted in the film Unbreakable, Now, Dunn is trying to find four missing girls who have presumably been abducted by Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), reprising his role as “The Horde” from Split, However, Dunn’s deductive skills are not rewarded: when he finds Crumb, the police commit both men to a mental institution. Along with Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson), who has superhuman intelligence, Dunn and Crumb are added to the patient roster of Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), who attempts to treat them for what she sees as their super power delusions.

This plot synopsis suggests a film with the potential to be a taut, psychological thriller. It is not. Sadly, Glass forced me to waste two hours on one of the most plodding, pretentious, and generally boring films I have had the misfortune to sit through. Given that Glass is a sequel to the subpar Split, this isn’t surprising. Unfortunately, Glass not only perpetuates its prequel’s appalling stereotypes of the mentally ill; it adds a glacially slow plot and flat characters. M. Night Shyamalan (who not only directed but also wrote and produced the film) seems to have forgotten that characters need to have consistent motivations. (Frankly, I would have welcomed any motivations at all.) With the exception of David Dunn, and arguably his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), who manage to stick to two-dimensional good guy impulses, every other character is either confused, bland, or just waiting to reveal their dramatic motives in the last 20 minutes.

If you have seen a film in the superhero genre lately, you know what to expect in terms of violence. The usual punching, kicking, grabbing, and general mischief that goes with two exceptionally strong people trying to clobber each other is about what you can expect in this movie, along with one stabbing and a shooting. Glass is trying to be dark and gritty and is well placed at a PG-13. Younger teens who are particularly sensitive to ominous sound effects and violence might want to avoid it. Otherwise, the biggest thing parents have to worry about is their teenagers lapsing into comas in the theater.

Glass is a film that really didn’t need to be made. Unbreakable was one of the few M. Night Shyamalan productions that was worth watching: Split already demonstrated that revisiting that universe was a bad idea. All this movie can aspire to is to be the final nail in the coffin of this series, but with all the sequel-baiting packed into the last 15 minutes, I don’t think we’re that lucky.