I finally saw this. I really enjoyed it. The writing is kind of weak, there’s a lot of plot holes you just kind of have to go with, but it’s really well made. I just love how M. Night sets up each shot, his care with every camera angle, the swell of the music at the right moments, it’s just super enjoyable to watch it all play out.
McAvoy is again so good. His scenes bring an intensity and humor to the film. And Samuel L. Jackson is in such good form. His obsession with comic books could have come across as kind of silly, but Sam Jackson really sells it so well. It’s so good to see him actually get to exercise that acting muscle again after seeing him in Marvel movies and Star Wars movies where he didn’t get much of a part. (I haven’t seen Captain Marvel yet).
I wish the ending hadn’t been such a fizzle, but even that didn’t really dampen my overall joy at just seeing this movie play out. Each action scene is again so well choreographed. I’m not even sure how the heck they filmed McAvoy leaping across the grass like that, like a true beast. Every time you think a scene is going to be boring, like two guys who are punching each other, Shyamalan finds a really compelling way to present the scene. Now we’re inside a van, and we’re experiencing the punching through the innocent eyes. Now we’re inside a police car driving to the scene, instead of being outside the police car in a bird’s eye view because that moment demanded a sense of velocity and action. And the music really works so well in concert with all these visuals.
It kind of reminds me of Signs in that way. I don’t disagree with people who say that movie was dumb if you think about it critically. Really, aliens with a weakness like that? But I don’t find Signs compelling to watch because of the story, I love watching it because of the way each scene is setup, the way the flashbacks reveal the story, the way the camera zooms into a character’s face and the music swells, and it all comes to a crescendo at the right moments. That’s what Signs is about for me, and that’s what Glass is about too. It’s really good filmmaking even though it’s weak writing.
I really enjoyed. I would recommend it with caveats.
I’m left with such a good afterglow from watching this movie, god help me I actually want to check out the M Night Shyamalan movies that I missed.
Let me see (checks IMDB) that’s: The Happening, The Last Airbender, After Earth, Wayward Pines TV series pilot, and The Visit. And maybe Devil, which was written by him, but not directed by him. I hope none of these turn out as bad as Lady in the Water.
I quite liked Devil. I’ve never seen the other ones you listed though. I tried to watch Lady in the Water, but gave up part way through. After Earth and Last Airbender are supposed to be terrible.
As is The Happening, I heard. I can’t decide if that means I should start with those and make my way to the better ones, or go straight to the better ones and save the worst for last.
I saw the Happening for the first time earlier this summer. I really enjoyed the “disaster scenario” part of the movie, and since I like the apocalypse genre I stuck with it through the final 3rd, which gets increasingly silly, and Marky Mark’s performance is a real wtf. The atmosphere at the beginning is very creepy though.
Despite a few nice scenes, the joy of watching James McAvoy do his thing, and a general attempt to do something unique, this movie didn’t work for me. I came to accept and didn’t really mind the relative scarceness of stunts or special effects spectacle… but that (presumably budget-minded) creative decision really came back to bite the ending in the ass. As word gets out, all those people watching their phones, dumbfounded, awe-struck by the extraordinary… guy flipping a car? Scampering along a wall? It all seemed so small and samey. You’re really not selling it, M!
I just looked up the box office for this movie. 247 million? Yay! It looks like it was a success! As someone who really enjoyed it, I was happy to see that.
