M. Night Shyamalan’s new film Glass is sure to have moviegoers asking for their money back by the time the credits begin to role. In a surprise trilogy, following Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016), Shyamalan returned with this horror-superhero conclusion. However, while he was given credit for the blending of genres in the previous installments of the trilogy, it seems Glass was not a successful creation. 

Part of the reason is because it seemed like the film didn’t know exactly what it was. It wasn’t really scary, but it also wasn’t very super. Was it a redemption story for Bruce Willis’ character David Dunn? Or was it a coming of age story for James McAvoy’s character Kevin Wendell Crumb? We weren’t very sure, and it seems Shyamalan wasn’t either. 

The action and fight scenes failed spectacularly compared to the super hero films made regularly by Marvel. Another disappointment was Shyamalan’s twist ending. While he is known for doing this in his films, they are usually more dramatic. 

In Glass, there were multiple surprises at the end of the film. While revealing that Mr. Glass killed Kevin’s father on the same train that Dunn survived in Unbreakable was great; unfortunately, the film did not end here, and we were given two less than satisfactory endings to leave a bad taste in our mouth. 

The film, however, was not all bad. The formulaic plot as well as character archetypes of super hero films was something never done before. However, this should have been more essential to the plot, rather than needless hospital scenes leading up to the inevitable escape of all three main characters (which left only about 10 minutes to spare before the film ended). 

Instead of giving us an epic super hero showdown between two super-humans separated by over a decade on screen, we were given a cheesy hospital drama with a hint of crappy action. The film reflected the characters. 

Just as the heroes and villains were based on realism with only limited powers, the film was limited and ultimately disappointing in action from start to finish. No surprise here that Glass did not receive any Oscar buzz. Sorry Bruce Willis.