Glass 2019 * 1/2 Stars

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Year: 2019
Rated PG-13
Rating: * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy

"We almost got you bro". So says James McAvoy's Hedwig in 2019's Glass (my latest review). Glass the movie, well it didn't quite "get" me either. With an overwrought narrative, weird camera angles, a lack of terror/suspense, and some shoddy Spielbergian interludes, M. Night Shyamalan directs the film like a poker player with way too many hands. Sadly, he comes up with a metaphoric, busted straight.

Anyway, Glass is a mumbo jumbo sequel to Unbreakable and 2016's Split. It involves the characters from those flicks (David Dunn, Hedwig, Elijah Price) being locked in a mental hospital with a psychiatrist trying to prove that they aren't formidable superheroes.

Bruce Willis reprises his role as Dunn and sorta phones it in. Samuel L. Jackson and McAvoy are reliably solid as Price and Hedwig. As for the part of psychiatrist Dr. Ellie Staple, well Floridian Sarah Paulson comes off as awkward and incredibly annoying. It doesn't help that Shyamalan insists on shooting her in amateurish, close-up fashion. Oh and I almost forgot, M. Night also makes another look-at-me cameo in Glass. Like many of his other Hitchcock-wannabee cameos, it's pretty forgettable.

Harboring a paltry, $20 million dollar budget (it shows), feeling completely different than your typical superhero endeavor (I'm talking Marvel and DC Comics), and containing an obligatory Shyamalan spill ending that reeks of being run out, Glass again shows M. Night Shyamalan at his most pretentious and most la-di-da. This movie is multi-layered, pat, and hooey-ed, with every supporting player acting as if this is the first time they've ever been in front of a camera. While watching the prolix, dark-hued Glass, I felt underwhelmed, under embellished and at times bored. Yeah, Glass is a cinematic "bypass".

Bottom line: The Sixth Sense and Split are the only flicks I would consider to be Shyamalan masterpieces (Unbreakable upon multiple viewings, is serviceable). Glass unfortunately falls into The Happening territory (ugh). It's not completely "broken" but it sure seems "see through". My rating: 1 and a half stars.

Written by Jesse Burleson