Starring James McAvoy, Bruce Willis,
and Samuel L. Jackson
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Universal Pictures
I can tell James McAvoy's "Horde" - a collection of 34 distinct personalities serving the animal-like "Beast" - is supposed to be the most interesting character in this movie. But in terms of split personalities, the award for "All Over The Place" really goes to the movie itself. I'll spare you the buildup and just get my big pun out of the way first: Glass is splintered. And some of those pieces are little more than fiberglass.
The plot revolves around three characters from Mr. Shyamalan's previous outings: The Overseer (Bruce Willis) and Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) from Unbreakable, and Horde (James McAvoy) from Split. After a big dustup between Horde and Overseer, they are captured by a psychologist (American Horror Story's Sarah Paulsen) who keeps them locked in a psychiatric ward while she attempts to cure them of what she calls their "superhero delusion". But the nefarious Mr. Glass, ever scheming, enacts a plot which will put thousands of lives in jeopardy.
The above synopsis all sounds very straightforward; perhaps it could've led to a One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest situation: three superhumans in a cat-and-mouse game with their own version of Nurse Ratched, forced to team up in order to escape, yet each has his own motivations, etc., etc. Not groundbreaking, but at least coherent and entertaining. The best scene of the whole movie is very uncomplicated: The Overseer tracks Horde to his lair, the two confront each other, and proceed to beat the piss out of each other. Their low-key, slightly-more-than-human superpowers give their brawls a visceral believability that no number of Marvel/DC high-flying fight sequences could hope to match. The viewer sees a glimmer of hope - perhaps things will continue this way...?
But no, Mr. Shyamalan cannot allow this wonderful lack of complication to continue. And so enters a loose yarn-ball of a plot, with some threads heavy and dull, others laughably naive, and a few that are just so immensely stupid, you wonder at first if he's trying out comedy. But no, Mr. Shyamalan is deadly serious, and seemingly impervious to any irony except his "twists", which continue to land with the immense crushing power of a wet paper napkin. I kept saying to myself, "Is that the big secret?" And the final big reveal is so obvious, I might as well spoil it for you: there was a Big Evil Organization controlling the situation all along! Just like in every single other superhero movie.
Can the actors save this messy pile of a story? Maybe if their personalities weren't so thoroughly sanded off by the gomer of a script they were handed. James McAvoy tears into his role with gusto, but the whole thing comes off as a sideshow performance - "See the man with 34 personalities!" - trotted out by auteur besotted with his creation. Bruce Willis is barely present, and even Samuel L. Jackson seems sort of ghostly, as though the Samuel L. Jackson-ness has been surgically removed for this film. Sarah Paulsen is reduced to a mumbling cypher. The supporting characters are so gormless and inconsequential to the plot, they might as well have been the caterers - at least then they'd have something to do. I just about hated every word coming out of every character's mouth. There were times I looked away from the screen in embarrassment. And the awkward treatment of the internet and viral videos, a key point of the plot, is so weirdly naive it comes off as comical - as though Mr. Shyamalan had the concept described to him, but never investigated it for himself.
This is not to say there aren't any good parts of this film. The cinematography is top-notch, the camera turning almost upside-down as it tracks the characters from above. He's not one for shaky-camera tricks or flickering lights. The sound design is similarly effective and creepy. The audiovisual arrangement brings to mind his movie Devil, an otherwise incomprehensible and dull mess that still delivered some gratifying moments of pure cinematic art. If only this style could be uncoupled from the ten-ton carriage of Mr. Shyamalan's plot, a fresh and beautiful film could be made. And I'm not going to say the characters weren't interesting in and of themselves: they're human. Horde is a mountain of rage and fear; Overseer is weary and duty-bound; Mr. Glass is ultimately deluded and pitiable. Actor Anya Taylor-Joy is spooky and ethereal as Casey Cook, the only girl The Beast let go, and her bond with the Horde rings true (although you'll have to see Split for it to make much sense). Unfortunately these amazing characters were tipped out of their own films into the muddy pond that is Glass, and forced to cling to whatever flotsam they can grab a hold of.
As my fiancee and I walked out of the theater into the cold, brows still furrowed over what we'd just witnessed, we wondered how such a movie could've come about. Maybe someone made the dangerous trek to M. Night Shyamalan's secluded hilltop castle, braving the tigers and lasers, in order to inform him that "Superhero mashup movies are hot right now. Maybe you could do one of those?" And the auteur-king, severely disconnected from the outside world, proceeded to pull the levers on his Plot Engine until ticker-tape began to spew out. He then stapled them all together, wadded them in a ball, and handed it to his producer. "Here," he said. "Get Bruce, Sam, and Jim on the phone. We're making a movie!" And thus Glass shambled into the light of day.
I'm not going to say, "Don't bother seeing it"...I think people should. Especially film students. That way they can learn what not to do when making films, and the dangers of auteurism when talent has gone stale.
Final verdict: 1 out of 5.
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