Glass is Seriously Better Than Expected
Glass impressed me with its portrayal of how superdom ends.
Nobody wants super powered weapons fighting it out over petty interpretations of the rules. Regardless if it’s the military or a secret society, somebody will always exist to stomp them out. The idea of a super powered citizenry running rampant and enforcing their personal code of conduct is terrifying.
How does a cop control Superman?
Glass: Several Months Later
When one approaches a M. Night Shyamalan film, they do it with hesitation. What was once a fun spinner of tales has now attracted a bit of a stigma. Modern audiences hate surprises, yet they want novelty. What’s a filmmaker to do?
The answer is beat them down with realism. Nobody wants heroes. Hell, most of society is a fight between the individual and the system. What we deem makes us civilized is nothing more than a series of agreements just to keep people from tearing each other apart.
What Glass gets right is exploring how fragile everything is in the 21st century. There is no room for the special, as it upsets too much. The individual appeal of being special is appealing, but threatens the other 6 billion people on Earth. Multiple that by a random number of individuals finding their own means of power and you have chaos.
Shyamalan was correct to kill off his trio of characters. Three varieties of the individual persona trying to make sense of the greater world. Ultimately realizing that none of their struggles matter. The greater good must prevail.
Our older take
Almost all of the January review still holds true. Read it here.
Enter our Glass Easter Egg contest.
