With a current average rating of 5/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, counting 30 reviews in total, it would seem those who have had the chance to check out an early screening of Glass are divided about the end to M. Night Shyamalan's ambitious comic book trilogy.
With Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and James McAvoy all reprising their various roles from Unbreakable and Split, the capper to what has to-date been an impressive movie universe might not be everything fans were expecting. Here are some of the most notable critic reactions we've seen on the web:
Joshua Rothkopf for Time Out, 2/5
"Shyamalan spends so much time on the are-they-or-aren’t-they question that he’s forgotten how to mount a persuasive escape sequence—the action is your typical WrestleMania stuff. There’s an ominous office tower being built downtown, but you’ll be shocked by how undisciplined his script is. It lacks a real climax, yet has room for multiple scenes set in comic-book stores, plus a lengthy and unnecessary cameo for himself. Does it end with a cute, unexpected jab to the ribs? You bet. That shiver of pure nothingness won’t be ruined here, but just to be perfectly clear: This review has no ulterior motive in disproving the secret lives of superheroes, only the talents of one formerly gifted filmmaker."
2) Kirsten Acuna for Insider, graded B
"If you don't have time to catch up on "Unbreakable" and "Split" before seeing "Glass," no big deal. "Glass" doesn't assume that you've seen the two films in the franchise that came before it. It will fill you in along the way with what you need to know.
"If you're a fan of the films, you'll be rewarded for watching 2000's "Unbreakable" again. Several comic images and lines of dialogue appear to have new meaning after a screening of "Glass," and suggest the sequel was hinted at all along."
3) Monica Castillo for TheWrap
"There’s also a troubling development with Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy), the sole survivor of The Beast’s attack in “Split.” In that movie, she’s a conflicted character struggling with her own problems before she’s kidnapped with her friends by one of Kevin’s personalities. In “Glass,” her situation feels conveniently shelved, as she takes on a nurturing role for Kevin. It’s disturbing to see her reduced this way, especially when violence against women and the deadly assumption that women can fix dangerous men is still so prevalent. Also unexplored is any strife Elijah’s mother (Charlayne Woodard) might have felt after learning that her son is an evil genius-turned-terrorist."
4) John DeFore for The Hollywood Reporter
"In Glass, the writer-director aims to complete an opus much more ambitious than his breakthrough ghost story The Sixth Sense — still his only film that nearly everyone agrees works. As a trilogy-closer, it's a mixed bag, tying earlier narrative strands together pleasingly while working too hard (and failing) to convince viewers Shyamalan has something uniquely brainy to offer in the overpopulated arena of comics-inspired stories. Though satisfying enough to work at the multiplex, it doesn't erase memories of the ways that even movies before the abjectly awful After Earth and The Last Airbender made us wary of the words "a film by M. Night Shyamalan.""
5) Chris Nashawaty for Entertainment Weekly, graded C+
"As a fan of both earlier movies (although I prefer the intellectual rug-pulling of Unbreakable to the grim, captivity-themed Split), seeing these three characters first assembled in the same room is thrilling. But Shyamalan doesn’t seem to know what to do with his dense mythology once he’s convened his long-awaited superhero loony-bin summit meeting. Instead of having his two earlier movies dovetail to create something deeper and richer, it quickly begins to feel like subtraction by addition."
As mixed a bag as ever, Shyamalan is a filmmaker who knows exactly how to puzzle an audience. It seems he'll be doing that on a grander scale than ever before here; let's just hope the payoff for the majority who have stuck with this trilogy since its earliest days is good enough to leave them satisfied. If not, they could mistrust the director for the foreseeable future; and that's never good for a career.
Glass hits cinemas in both the UK and the US on January 18, 2019.
Tagged in M Night Shyamalan