Glass

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

[mr_rating_result]

M. Night Shyamalan built his reputation on spooky films – “The Sixth Sense,” “The Village,” “Devil.” But he proved himself a comic book fanboy with “Unbreakable” and “Split.”

Both were about superheroes. Of sorts.

In “Unbreakable,” David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is a security guard who has superpowers. Strength. The ability to sense crimes. Unbreakable skin. He faces off against Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), a crazed comic book nut who is in fact a supervillain. Suffering from brittle bone disease, Glass is wheelchair bound.

And in “Split,” Kevin Crumb (James McAvoy) suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID), imbuing him with 24 personalities. One of them is The Beast, a cannibalistic sociopath with superhuman capabilities. Strength. Enhanced speed. The ability to scale walls. He kidnaps several girls and holds them captive at the Philadelphia Zoo. The plot involves the girls (Anya Taylor-Joy among them) calling on Crumb’s various personalities in their attempt to escape.

Now, we have the third film in Shyamalan’s so-called Eastrail 177 Trilogy, a superhero yarn titled “Glass.” This one brings the characters from both movies together.

In “Glass,” David Dunn (Willis again) serves as The Protector, going after The Beast (McAvoy). Lurking is the shadows is Mr. Glass (Jackson), the mastermind who holds secrets linking both men.

This third film includes Casey (Taylor-Joy), one of the girls kidnapped by the Beast in the previous film; Dr. Staple (Sarah Paulson), a psychiatrist who studies delusions of grandeur, specifically in patients convinced they are superhuman beings; and Joseph Dunn (Spencer Treat Clark), David’s son who sees his father as a real-life superhero.

Many of the cast members have been in more traditional comic book movies: Bruce Willis starred in “Sin City” and “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. James McAvoy appears in the “X-Men” films. Samuel L. Jackson claims the role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spencer Treat Clark acted in “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Anya Taylor-Joy joined “The New Mutants.” And Sarah Paulson popped up in “The Spirit.”

However, “Glass” is a different kind of superhero movie. Very unlike the Marvel or DC superhero blockbusters. In fact, it’s considered a deconstruction of the superhero genre.

In contrast to most superhero films, the series is generally grounded in reality.

As Mr. Glass says, “This is not a cartoon. This is reality.”

“Glass” is showing this week at Tropic Cinema.

Although “Glass” completes the trilogy, Shyamalan has said he may continue making more in the series if inspiration for writing the material is there.

Shyamalan points out that rather than being a “comic book movie,” each of them is more a movie about comic books. The main theme behind the trilogy is that there are extraordinary powers in everyone.

As I call this idea in my book Comic Books: How the Industry Works, “the hero within.” We all want to believe that if it came down to it, there is a hero lurking inside us who would emerge to save the day.

That’s what superheroes are about.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com