Title(s): Eastrail 177 Trilogy (Unbreakable; Split; Glass)
Release Date(s): November 22, 2000 (Unbreakable)
January 20, 2017 (Split)
January 18, 2019 (Glass)
View Time(s): January 17, 2019 - 7:15 P.M. (Unbreakable)
January 18, 2019 - 2:00 P.M. (Split)
January 19, 2019 (Popcorn Day!) - 4:15 P.M. (Glass)
Running Time(s): 106 minutes (Unbreakable)
117 minutes (Split)
129 minutes (Glass)
Format & Location: Blu-ray (Unbreakable)/4K Blu-ray (Split) - London Home Base
IMAX - Toronto Cineplex Empress Walk
NOTE: While this review talks about the whole Eastrail 177 Trilogy (?), most emphasis will be on Glass, the latest instalment of the series.
"Well, that sounds like the bad guys teaming up." - So, you're like the Anti-Avengers?
Over the years, I have heard from numerous critics about the "notorious" M. Night Shyamalan, whose (relatively) recent works, The Last Airbender (2010) and After Earth (2013), was panned by critics and fans alike. While Shyamalan is widely shamed for creating these two and many painfully mediocre works (in the public's eye), his break-out hit in 1999, The Sixth Sense, was still talked about and referenced today.
As an optimistic founder of NFLB, I believe that despite what the critics say, every movie has a moment that can be appraised. With the release of his latest work Glass this month, it's a great time for me to see what this director can do and if he really deserve the hate that he got for the past ten years.
Glass is the latest instalment of Eastrail 177 Trilogy (?)*, which began in the millennium with Unbreakable and continued with Split in 2017. So... let's start from the beginning, shall we?
* Even though Glass is considered as the last instalment of the Trilogy, Shyamalan speculated a possibility for continuation IF he had some inspirations (https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a819457/m-night-shyamalan-unbreakable-2-split-universe/).
[SPOILERS for Unbreakable START IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH]
Unbreakable starts with stadium security guard David Dunn, who becomes the sole survivor of the train Eastrail 177 after it deviates from the track. He is then approached by comic book enthusiast Elijah Price, who is prone to bone fracture since his birth and theorizes that David is a real-life superhero. With his son Joseph's help, David discovers that he cannot get hurt, has extraordinary strength and can detect the sins of anyone he touches, with water being his only weakness. David uses his gift to apprehend a man in orange that has taken a family hostage and he is recognized as a masked hero. However, Elijah finally reveals to David as the mastermind behind several life-threatening incidents (including Eastrail 177) and affirms their relationship as arch-nemesis.
The movie came out in the same year as the first X-Men, the one that started a new era for live-action comic book adaptations. But what makes Unbreakable stands out as one of Shyamalan's best is its ability to tell a unique "superhero origin" story without any over-the-top effects or generic storyline. This is a hero's journey of self-discovery as he finds both his and his enemy's purpose in life. Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, who had previously worked together in Die Hard with a Vengeance, deliver an outstanding performance in this emotional warfare. The soundtrack by James Newton Howard further elevates the experience, making this movie the one that I would recommend to EVERYONE who has grown tired of traditional superhero movies.
Below are my top five favourite scenes of the movie. If your friends still think that music is not important in a movie, show them the last three!
"Sole Survivor" (an excellent example on how visual can tell a story) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfDOmCLf0bQ
"Joseph With A Gun" (Low Quality) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xamXopGNI4Y
"Go To Where People Are" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJZc8ijK3uE&t=177s
"Orange Man Fight" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBRmNUxAVYs&t=1s
"Mr. Glass (Ending)" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10TK19duC3s
[End of spoilers for Unbreakable, start of spoilers for Split]
Split follows high school girl Casey Cooke as she is abducted along with her classmates by Kevin Wendell Crumb, a former zookeeper with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) that allows him to possess 23 different personalities. The story takes a sharp turn when Kevin's 24th personality, "The Beast", is slowly taking dominance. The Beast believes anyone in this world that has not been through suffering as "impure" and should be punished. He ends up letting only Casey leave the scene after discovering that she has been living with her abusive uncle since her father's passing.
This movie, as a product of recovery from Shyamalan's unappreciated works, was originally advertised as a standalone story. But Willis's reprisal of David Dunn at the end delivered a shock to the audience at the time of initial release and successfully links this movie and Unbreakable as a part of a larger cinematic universe. Even though I'm impressed by the portrayal of eight distinct personalities by James McAvoy (aka. young Charles Xavier in X-Men series), the movie falls short compared to its predecessor. It has a strong opening in cutting right to the chase, but ends up spending a lot of time exploring interactions between the different personalities of Kevin and his victims rather than emphasizing the struggle within Kevin himself. In fact, this movie drags along to the point that I paused it at the hour mark and came back after a break. Is it an adequate inclusion to the series? Definitely! But does it hold up as a standalone work by Shyamalan? Maybe not.
[End of spoilers for Split, start of spoilers for Glass]
Okay, finally back to what you're here for! Glass picks up from the ending of Split, and continues the tradition of diving right into the suspense. Just as the battle between "The Overseer" (David) and "The Horde" (Kevin) is heating up when they both fall out of the window, they are quickly captured by Dr. Ellie Staple (played by Sarah Paulson, who is recently seen in Ocean's 8 and Netflix's Birdbox) and is sent to her mental facility, where she attempts to convince both David and Kevin, as well as Elijah that they are not superheroes. However, when Elijah and Kevin teams up in an attempt to show the world their abilities on a newly constructed tower, things quickly spirals down into a retaliation that leads to a tragic end for all three superhuman protagonists.
In terms of the quality of the newest instalment, in my humble opinion, this surpasses Split by a mile, but still a little lower than Unbreakable, which remains as my favourite part of the Trilogy. But as soon as I see Rotten Tomatoes, which is, at the time of writing (January 25), a disappointing level of 36%, it makes me wondering more on how the mind of the critics work in a mysterious way. In this case, I have to agree with the consensus showing the comments sections of related YouTube videos. Shyamalan once again got all the hate that he certainly did not deserve. I can tell that he is trying his best to fix the sort of imbalance between action and conversation existed in Split by making Glass an entertaining, emotional, satisfying conclusion to the Eastrail 177 Trilogy (if he decides to leave the story here).
When a cop from New York, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D, and the head of the educational institute for the gifted are placed under the same roof, it is the recipe for success. From the first minute in, it is evident that McAvoy has elevated his performance as a multi-personality psychopath. The film not only featured more of Kevin's personalities that we did not see in Split (including one en Español), the connections between these separate identities is further established as they continue to fight for the position of "the light". (I love the part where Hedwig says to Casey "so you like Kevin now" after Casey gets a little bit too close to him when Kevin is in control).
While Jackson's character is way more subtle than McAvoy's portrayal of Kevin, his actions and words are a little more menacing to the spectator. Especially in the first half of the movie, where Elijah is heavily sedated and in a still position, the screen focused on his eyes as if it is starring into the soul of whoever is watching from the other side.
Willis delivered a stunning performance as a father figure trying to find his purpose in Unbreakable. Now that almost 20 years later, David has formed partnership with his son Joseph to fight for justice, and their interactions... well... is not really that memorable this time around! (I'm sorry Mr. Willis, while I have something worth mentioning about your colleges, I just cannot find a single moment where you truly shine, and you certainly deserve better at the end! Maybe it was because I had high expectations for you after watching Unbreakable, again, I apologize.)
If you're looking for a satisfying conclusion where David conquers both Kevin and Elijah, get ready to head out of theatres in despair. There's no easy way to say this... they are ALL DEAD, all three of them are killed by their weaknesses, and this really make us think about the real villain in this movie hard. Is it Mr. Glass (Elijah) as advertised? Or is it Dr. Staple for keeping the secret to herself? Or is it someone else that have created the organization to contain this type of incidents? Maybe it is a shared blame! People fear what they don't understand, and in turn people like Staple have to do the dirty work to keep the public from fear. But when Elijah is trying to unlock David's full potential by letting Kevin and his dangerous personalities run loose, he is only helping themselves further onto the road of destruction.
A part of movie watching experience is about how audience can bring or enhance the meaning of what is happening on screen. Glass is a movie that invites us to be the witnesses of a series of unexplainable incidents by constantly cut to "security cam" view, putting us in the position of surveillance as the tragedy unfold. Are there really secrets in this world? Can people hide themselves from the public? Apparently not! In the age of technologies, Shyamalan has established this blurred line between public and private and tells the world that no secret will stay hidden when Elijah is probably laughing beyond the grave after all of their secrets are exposed via surveillance footage. And I bet everyone is laughing with him when we see Dr. Staple screaming in defeat.
As an enthusiast of comic book adaptations, I can immediately see the connection between this series and X-Men - David is Professor X, Elijah is Magneto, Dr. Staple and the secret group are government officials who do not want to spread fear to the public. However, while X-Men has won the battle at the end of The Last Stand (with tremendous loss), in the harsh reality depicted in Glass, none of them walked out with victory. With that being said, I still cannot get over how David is treated horribly until the very end. As three protagonists are dying, Elijah's mother and Casey are right by their close ones, sharing one more emotional moment before departure. But when Joseph approaches to his father, he only finds his lifeless body drowned in the pond. For the father and son relationship that is way more developed than any other throughout the Trilogy (?), I expect David to have the same level of exit as Logan (Hugh Jackman) in Logan, but instead, the creative team just slapped me in the face and tell me to accept it as what it is.
[END OF SPOILERS]
Overall, Glass is a satisfying conclusion to the supposed Trilogy that no one had originally asked for and Shyamalan had unintentionally created after the release of Split. Someone commented on YouTube that if the whole series was released before the 2000s, then it would bring in a more phenomenal impact. I have to agree with that because of the sophistication and realism delivered in most of the series. As Joseph, Casey and Mrs. Price sitting in a train station and staring at "the beginning of a universe", I would like to believe that Shyamalan has redeemed himself (that is, if his previous works are really as bad as most people said, might need to look into those soon...) and will continue to let audience to remain hopeful for the future. Do YOU still have faith in M. Night Shyamalan? Before you answer that question, why don't you go see Glass first and then decide?
Unbreakable is now available on Blu-ray and DVD; Split and Glass are now available on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD.
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