Glass is a film revolving around not-so-ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances: a film plot seemingly on psychedelics, crossing over the conflict of a person consumed with dissociative identity disorder. With twenty-three personalities, learning which one is truly yours is where the horrors lie.
The film starts off with one of Kevin’s (James McAvoy) personalities intimidating a handful of hostages and our other protagonist David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a vigilante who is having his very own identity crisis of being a superhuman. Tailing with his immovable will to do good, Dunn pursues the kidnapping with the aid of his son. With a power resembling clairvoyance, Dunn triangulates Kevin’s location. Though possessing super-strength, Dunn is no match for the feral side of Kevin called “The Beast”; who acts as the ultimate master and savior of Kevin. At the end of their brawl they are caught and taken to a mental asylum for treatment. This grim premise is where Kevin meets Elijah, or Mr. Glass (Samuel L Jackson). Elijah suffers from physical ailments but as a mastermind, and promises Kevin to help him escape the asylum and announce to the world that he is the peak of human evolution, that he is a superhero. Dunn, now determined as ever to stop the escaped duo, escapes as well. The legendary battle concludes with a shocking twist which catches the viewers completely off-guard. The ending is completely different to what the movie builds up to but just as spectacular as expected. The direction by M Night is truly commendable as well as the technical aspects of cinematography and background score.
The film emphasizes upon identity issues for every character: Dunn, fighting his conflicting image as a superhuman; Kevin, who lives abundant and numerous lives and Elijah, who is obsessed to prove his theory like it is a core part of his identity. Even to the point, this obsession renders him a sociopath. The true identity of oneself is never truly known to others and the supporting cast has played a pivotal role depicting that everyone around them suffer the consequences of their identity crisis, of how identities are what really holds the strings of fate together.
The only downside to this jaw-dropping thriller is that the film is highly dependent upon viewers to have seen the previous Eastrail 177 trilogy films: Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016). However, I could argue that both these films, especially Split, are important studies in fascination and more significantly, identity, that one cannot go their entire life without seeing.
-Yash Sahni
Another Level Higher 