Oooh the suspense is just killing me. The trailer for M. Night Shymalanadingdong’s long awaited sequel to his magnum opus Unbreakable (2000), ‘Glass’ was released yesterday. I’m sorry, that was rude, we like Mr. Shyamalan now, he is, as all geek councils report, out of the creative doghouse he has dwelled in for years. His efforts with movies like The Visit (2015) and Split (2016) have reinvigorated his fanbase and has resulted in the once-maligned director having a new lease on life.
Now to be fair, ‘I’ thought The Visit and Split were…so-so films. Believe it or not I would probably watch The Happening (2008) before I revisit those two…largely because I think The Happening is hilarious in an unintentional way. I get a chuckle just thinking about it.
Enough with the past. Let us move onward. In the end, us geeks are a forgiving and optimistic lot…for the most part.
Let’s see what this trailer has to offer:
First name: Mr. Last name: Glass.
Hmn. I find it an odd kind of world where this sort of scenario can even manifest itself. Sarah Paulson’s character has evidently built up a profession around treating people for “Superhero Delusions”. Do you think she could get away with that in the Marvel or DC Universe? Could she actually tell an 8 ft Hulk that he ‘isn’t really there’ and that he is still, in fact, Bruce Banner in human form? Would him throwing her into space finally convince her?
I wonder what Thanos would have to say to Dr. Staple. Given his loquacious nature, I suspect quite a bit.
Clearly, the only reason this premise can work is because the ‘powers’ these gentlemen possess are so muted and subtle they can be dismissed by those who are inclined to do so. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. It sort of reminds me of the low-key, hush-hush, vibe the Marvel Netflix shows had for an infuriating amount of time. Like closeted homosexuals in the 70’s, they skulked around in the shadows. With the exception of Daredevil…I really hate the Marvel Netflix shows.
Finally, to my point..I’m not particularly wowed by anything I’m seeing in this trailer. There’s a lot of somber, ponderous shots and the action seems pretty muted…perhaps too muted. I hope there’s a lot more happening than what they are showing. I hope Night has adopted the Big Trouble in Little China narrative flow where the action begins very slight and increases exponentially throughout the film.
Early on in The Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy Anne Summers would spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep who she was and what she did a secret from her mother, Joyce. It resulted in a lot of silly explanations and a massive suspension of disbelief on our part to buy into. It was only tolerable because it didn’t go on for too long. If it had, it would have irrevocably hurt the show for me and I suspect many others.
There is something to be said for starting out in the shadows, timid and unsure. But sooner or later you have to enter the light of day.
Can these characters survive the sunlight?
Time will tell. Still mildly optimistic.
Glass starring James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, and Samuel L Jackson shatters theaters January 18, 2019
