Movie · 2019 · Thriller, Drama, Science Fiction · 2h 9m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.4/10 (831.6K ratings)
You cannot contain what you are.
Overview
In a series of escalating encounters, former security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities. Meanwhile, the shadowy presence of Elijah Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.4/10
IMDb: 6.6/10
Letterboxd: 2.94/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 37%
Metacritic: 43
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
M. Night Shyamalan
Production
Blinding Edge Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Perfect World Pictures
Cast
James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard, Luke Kirby, Adam David Thompson, M. Night Shyamalan, Shannon Destiny Ryan, Diana Silvers, Nina Wisner, Kyli Zion, Serge Didenko, Russell Posner, Kimberly S. Fairbanks, Rosemary Howard, Bryan McElroy, Owen Vitullo
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A divisive, talky superhero-thriller that’s more interesting as a deconstruction of comic-book mythology and trauma than as a conventional crowd-pleaser. It has strong performances and a few sharp ideas, but the pacing and payoff frustrate many viewers.
Best for
Viewers who like subversive superhero stories
Fans of twisty, low-key genre hybrids
People interested in trauma-driven character studies
M. Night Shyamalan completists
Skip if
You want a fast, action-heavy superhero movie
You’re impatient with long exposition and repetition
You prefer clean, emotionally satisfying endings
You disliked Unbreakable or Split
Overview
Glass is a sequel that wants to argue with the genre it inhabits. Instead of escalating into a bigger, louder comic-book spectacle, it stays cramped and talky, circling questions of identity, belief, and whether extraordinary people are myths we tell ourselves to survive pain. That ambition gives it a strange, stubborn personality even when the film feels deliberately anti-climactic.
Worth noting
The cast does a lot of heavy lifting, especially James McAvoy, whose performance keeps the movie alive whenever the script starts to stall. Bruce Willis is used sparingly, Samuel L. Jackson leans into the film’s operatic self-mythology, and the whole thing has the eerie, controlled mood Shyamalan can do so well. But the movie also spends too much time rehashing earlier material, which blunts its momentum.
Bottom line
If you’re open to a superhero film that is more thesis statement than payoff, there’s enough here to admire. If you want a cleaner trilogy capper, the movie’s self-consciousness and structural drag may leave you cold. It’s a fascinating misfire more often than a satisfying finale, but it’s rarely boring in the way its detractors claim.
Top Letterboxd reviews
David Sims (4★) · 3037 likes
FIRST NAME MISTER
LAST NAME GLASS
matt lynch (3★) · 1782 likes
The last 45 minutes or so of this could have been fleshed out and lengthened and you'd have a shot at the emotionally cathartic, narratively surprising, and still amusingly pulpy trilogy wrap-up that Shyamalan is perfectly capable of delivering. Unfortunately he's sort of got to retell UNBREAKABLE and SPLIT a little bit first, and so boy does this drag -- raising and answering yet again questions we've spent two whole movies now dealing with -- before you get to a… more The last 45 minutes or so of this could have been fleshed out and lengthened and you'd have a shot at the emotionally cathartic, narratively surprising, and still amusingly pulpy trilogy wrap-up that Shyamalan is perfectly capable of delivering. Unfortunately he's sort of got to retell UNBREAKABLE and SPLIT a little bit first, and so boy does this drag -- raising and answering yet again questions we've spent two whole movies now dealing with -- before you get to a… more
manilazic (4★) · 1586 likes
James McAvoy
Josh Lewis (4★) · 1216 likes
Clicked for me on rewatch. Unbreakable was about the stories we tell ourselves so that reality might make sense, giving our pain a larger purpose and Split was about the power of that shared pain; this merges the two in an emotional depiction of solidarity and hope vs. violent control. Repositioning those powerful feelings of purpose and communion within exciting, inspiring images found in comic book history (a history glass refers to as "seeing" and "feeling") and then having them… more Clicked for me on rewatch. Unbreakable was about the stories we tell ourselves so that reality might make sense, giving our pain a larger purpose and Split was about the power of that shared pain; this merges the two in an emotional depiction of solidarity and hope vs. violent control. Repositioning those powerful feelings of purpose and communion within exciting, inspiring images found in comic book history (a history glass refers to as "seeing" and "feeling") and then having them… more
2000 · Mystery, Thriller · 1h 53m · R · Curator 9.1/10 (3.2M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
If the appeal is fractured perception and puzzle-box storytelling, this is a sharper, more disciplined match.