Glass Review

It is the month of January and it is the dumping ground of films either gestating for too long to make a profit or be a quality film.  That lies at the heart of one of the few big releases to open 2019 of films with the sequel to what is called M. Night Shyamalan’s comic book trilogy called Glass, with him at the directing and writing helm.  This was reworked and structured from the original film’s script Unbreakable that has been long in the work for decades, especially as a good amount of films have not panned out for him.  Much of the cast has returned to this story, older and from Split, as well as serving as the penultimate climax of this overarching story of grounded superheroes and villains.  Does it come together as a whole and deliver where it counts, or does it falter and trip on the most fundamental elements that make for a satisfying climax for a trilogy of films?  Let’s check into the hospital and examine the story behind these patients with extraordinary abilities. 

We pick up 3 weeks after Split, where Kevin Wendell Crumb AKA The Beast (James McAvory) has been on a killing spree of the impure, while Casey (Ann Taylor-Joy) has made her life better by locking up her uncle for sexually molesting and abusing her as well as living in a foster home.  Meanwhile, David Dunn AKA The Overseer (Bruce Willis) is a vigilante hero protecting the innocent and punishing the criminals anywhere in Philadelphia while running a home security store with his son Joey (a grown up Spencer Treat Clark), who happens to be his operator and partner in the field.  Both hero and villain collide over a kidnapping that occurs with a cheerleading squad and they come to blows before an unknown police force comes in and subdues both for transport to the Eastwood Psychiatric Hospital in the outskirts of the city.  They are taken into rooms that mirror that of a comic book style holding prison for the extraordinary.  The one to bring them in for evaluation and treatment is a Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), looking to convince them that their beliefs in superheroes and villains are delusional and in their own minds.

This leads to a series of events that have the characters close to them, try to understand their captivity and get them released but one person happens to be in this hospital.  That would be the criminal mastermind and terrorist murderer Elijah AKA Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), kept under heavy sedation and surveillance for any signs of his evil genius being used to escape or harm others.  Dr. Staple is given 3 days to treat them and convince them that their powers are not real, when it has proven to be otherwise countless times in the previous cases and events.  Little do they know, Mr. Glass misdirects everyone of his helplessness and hatches a plan to prove to the whole world that the stories of comic books are real and exist, no matter the cost.  It becomes a mind-bending cat and mouse game of manipulation and deconstructing the mythos of comic books and their archetypes among three people that may very well reshape the world with what they are capable of.

For starters, the story has a strong and effective first act that gets us back into this world seamlessly and really feel the meaningful connections of this film with the previous outings with David and Kevin.  What makes the story interesting and promising to explore is the attention to detail towards continuity of the characters’ development.  This is also supplemented by mostly great performances from most of the cast with Glass and Beast being the standouts of the cast rightfully so.  While the first action beat is relatively simple, it is refreshingly grounded and fits with the realistic tone of the story perfectly.  There are times when the writing is sharp and explores the nature of comic books in a timely matter to today’s landscape of stories of superheroes and villains.  Despite the few bright, inspired moments of storytelling, it does not come together unfortunately, with the introduction of the new setting and character whose purpose is shrouded in mystery. 

After a pretty tense and engaging opening, the characters get captured and taken to a psych ward of a hospital for much of the story.  What it transforms into, is where people will either go with the flow or absolutely dislike it, is a slow and methodical deconstructive drama/examination of the mythos and archetypes of comic book in conjunction with its grounded, real characters.  That is what you see for at least an hour and a half, where you feel those plodding moments of circular conversation leading back to the same point of these stories following the template of what you expect.  The big showdown, good vs. evil, gods among humans, and the necessity of balance mainly discussed and spoken instead of shown, due in part to its limited resources and scope for the film (reported budget being $20 million, explains the issues with the finale).  Based around the vibe and energy of the sold-out crowd of two screenings for the film, it seems like too much time was spent analyzing the characters and their powers but never truly giving them the chance to develop visually but through the excessive amounts of exposition and world building that is limited to this one location.  Eventually, it picks up in the climax and that is where it unfortunately falls apart.

The breakout/final battle is appropriately grounded and has weight to it at first but then, the restrictive nature of the budget and small-scale approach to the story is where the issues crop in.  Most of the cast only become relevant by the last act and are mostly just small appearances that factor into one specific character development to the leads. There is so much time spent building up to a clear and obvious climax that it is hard to shake this questionable feeling that the finale was truncated to have every major climatic closure occur at just one location.  It results in not only a very disappointing closure to the leads but also throws in a twist that diminishes the emotional journey and development of the previous two films fatally, that it derails and muddles the point of its story questionably.  There is a sense of repurposing and restructuring a script from 20 years ago into the present culture that feels like some of its core elements in plotting and thematic storytelling are not quite reflective of the explosively popular, larger than life landscape of the superhero genre today.  This point lies at the overall issue that needs to be addressed and to clarify why this film ultimately fails to subvert and provide a different spin on the formula and subgenre that it goes to great lengths to criticize and explore throughout the film.

The reason for the lengthy exploration of the narrative quality is in regards to how much Shyamalan ultimately squanders the promising setups and wonderful character development/arcs of the previous films, for a new storyline that does not provide new insight to the superhero mythos and structural troupes as well as being more self-aware of its themes of balance and conformity to structure of an established way of creating stories in this genre.  The previous two films downplayed it effectively and only made it important to the growth of a character’s journey but here it plays more to the status quota of comic book stories rather than in junction with the characters’ actions themselves.  That is why Unbreakable and Split worked so well while Glass falls flat emotionally and as a satisfying end to this contained outing for the characters.  Ultimately, it starts off on a good note, stumbles in the middle, and falls face first with its sloppy yet truncated finale that ends on a questionably low-fi note with its conclusive moments for each character.

Let’s get right into the cast, starting with the leads themselves before we get into the supporting cast.  Bruce Willis reprises his role of David Dunn but with a gruff yet accepting outlook of his choice to be a vigilante hero providing one of his better performances in some time but still not quite giving his all into the performance at times, mostly for the subdued, emotional moments.  Samuel L. Jackson fits right back into the character of Mr. Glass with confidence and gleeful energy to finally be a baddie worthy of the most classic of villains, while showing how remarkable he is given material that plays to his strengths.  James McAvory as Kevin is still providing his most versatile and complex performance yet again, as well as providing some of the most genuine humorous moments of the film as well as displaying his personalities with reliably quality effort from the actor as usual.  Sarah Paulson plays Dr. Staple and she is perfectly fine as the compassionate yet mysterious psychologist that cares for the well being of these individuals to a degree, providing a commendable performance despite the sharp left writing turn for her character in the last act that brings to question her overall motivation and actions throughout the film.  Those are the characters we spend the most time with, while the supporting cast are also played well by older and upcoming actors/actresses.

It is both comforting and worth compliment how great it was to see many of the familiar actors/characters from previous films return to provide capable performances despite their unfortunately shorten time in the film. Ann Taylor-Joy gives a solid performance by adding to the strangely intimate chemistry between Kevin and Casey as well as being reliably good with the limited material and role for her.  The same goes for Spencer Treat Clark as a grown-up Joey Dunn with the familiar yet intuitive chemistry still felt between Willis and him, despite only being there to further the point of the deconstruction of comic books as well as some comic moments.  Lastly, we have Charlayne Woodard as Elijah’s mother Mrs. Price, and while there is a questionable work done on her makeup and hair to age her up appropriately, she provides some credibility to continuity and emotional connection to one of the principal characters.  The cast is a good mix of fantastic standouts, reliably good ones, and hokey awkward ones that are made sillier by the inconsistent dialogue at work here.

This brings us to the technical aspects of the film, starting with the cinematography and editing for Glass.  This was shot and shaped by Mike Gioulakis (It Follows, Split, etc.) as well as edited by two people named Luke Ciarrocchi (previous collaborator on the Blumhouse produced Shyamalan films) and Blu Murray (recently worked on many of Eastwood’s films) maintaining a consistent look and rhythm to the previous films.  It looks very much in line with the previous entries mainly in a positive way, as well as flowing roughly the same in line with a character-based drama than a traditional action/adventure film.  There are awkward moments of editing that call into attention the digital look of the film in contrast to the two deleted scenes from Unbreakable featured here using actual film stocks that are rich if grainy in details, as well as the drastic shifts of tone and pacing that occurs in each act, resulting in a film that moves both slowly and fast at inconsistent moments with its story.  While the film is still shot well with a great use of composition in the wide shots, the close ups and action beats always felt off and jarringly utilized as well as some wonky shots especially near the end (a good example is a dolly shot that was clearly not maneuvered correctly, resulting in a shaky shot and those issues are present throughout that make the film even more evident of its lower tier budget). 

The art/costume design is inspired at times but also very limited by the resources and scope of the direction of the production in general.  There is a great use of locations throughout the film, especially with the setting of Philadelphia and the specialized wings for the lead characters in the Hospital.  You can clearly tell they really used the locations of the scenes effectively, despite ultimately set in the hospital for the majority of the story.  As for the costumes done by Paco Delgado, they are distinctive and striking as well as suiting the identities of the characters extremely well (the Overseer’s green jacket, Beast’s yellow hospital pants, and Glass’ classy purple suit).  On an artistic, creative side, it is put together rather well and maintain a sense of continuity to the look and style of the previous films.

The last aspect to explore is the sound design/original score by West Dylan Thordson, returning from his work on Split.  It is one of the better and meaty sound mixes in 2019 so far, the impact of the powers of the characters as well as the more brutal moments hit just right to work for the scenes.  As for the score, it combines a few of the iconic themes from James Newton Howard’s work on Unbreakable particularly Dunn’s musical cues with his own work with Crumb’s theme along with new arrangements to fit with this joining of characters.  The music works effectively for its quieter, subtle moments of tension and creating an enclosed atmosphere for most of the film as well as recognizing the characters through their musical cues.  While it is not quite a compelling score on its own, it works with the visuals greatly in craft the familiar sounds and visual style of this trilogy of films along with a well-crafted sound design as well.

Despite the numerous quality aspects of the film as well as the strong and capable performances from most of the cast, they are ultimately let down by a long gestating, antiquated script that explores a different side of deconstructing comic books but does not quite stick the landing by further convoluting a compelling, straightforward character drama/thriller that happened to have elements of comic book heroics and villainy injected into those stories.  The themes of balancing the normal with the extraordinary, mind games of reality with fiction of comic books, as well as a conclusion to this storyline from 19 years ago are unique and worthy of exploring in film but the execution leaves a lot to be desired and falls flat in what it tries to convey in a time when Superhero/comic book films are not afraid to go into strange, “cosmic” places with the characters and narrative in fun yet dramatically compelling ways.  It comes down to Shyamalan having to rely so much on differentiating yet adhering to the conventions we have come to know, love, and hate with comic book adaptations and cinematic takes that he falls short from being limited yet too narrow with his endgame for this outing.

Score: *** out of *****

Glass is the long-awaited sequel/crossover finale of a story arc that started 19 years ago and has finally reached its penultimate conclusion.  That conclusion is not quite as exciting as many would hope and surprisingly low-fi, anticlimactic as a result, despite the committed and generally quality performances from most of the cast that truly elevate the muddled mess of the script at times as well as some inspired, creative artistry at work with the cinematography (despite the oddly placed and wonky shots used) and the production designs in general for the locations and costumes.  However, what works against it is ironically why the first two films work incredibly well and that is the relatively small, narrow scale of the story that wanted to end on a larger, higher note clearly felt by the intention in the creation and shooting of this film.  This is more of a simmering hospital character drama that feels awkward ironically when it has to deconstruct yet adhere to the comic book film formula strangely enough.  While recognition and praises is deserved for the technical qualities of the film as well as the performances in general, much of the critical issues with its bloated and at times self-serving script/story along with the lowered stakes of the climax and ultimate end point landing flat by deflating and diminishing the strength of quality in the previous films, creates a muddled yet disappointing denouement for what was once a trendsetter and influential to the direction studios would eventually take with adapting the more notable comic book series onto the big screen.

DC Films / WB's Aquaman Review

Another year, another DC film give to moviegoers like a Christmas present to enjoy and this time, it’s the underwater superhero exile who reluctantly becomes a part of a journey to become king called Aquaman, with director/story writer James Wan at the helm with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall writing the screen play for this outing of the fan favorite DC character.  Once again, it is a singular, straightforward adventure with the title character and his cast of characters and world we explore, Atlantis and the few kingdoms that reside under the black seas themselves.  DC films has been a rudderless ship with only one film getting both critically praise and financial success, but most of those films have been financially profitable (outside of Justice League) but critically panned by critics and serves as a divisive base for many discussions and volatile arguments online among viewers and fans.  This is worth bringing up as many hope that Aquaman’s solo film will turn the tide and be on part with Marvel films in quality and success.  Does it succeed like Wonder Woman before to create a new hero for audiences to get by or does it falter and ultimately feel like a carbon copy of other superhero films before it?  Let’s dive into the seven seas and look at the beginning of this tale.

We start with a fisherman named Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison), who comes across a wounded, unconscious Atlantean princess Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) on the shores of his lighthouse home.  They fall in love and eventually embrace with each other to have a child out of wedlock named Arthur Curry.  However, she is tracked down by Atlantis and after a very kinetic, stylized fight, she returns to her home to protect the man she loves as well as her son to never be seen again.  Years would pass, and Arthur would discover the ability to communicate with the animal life under the sea and eventually train with Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe), advisor for King of Atlantis and mentor to Arthur during his younger years.  Arthur would learn of the fate of his mother, which would serve as a foundation for his disdain and indifference to the people of Atlantis as well as his birthright to become king.

Now during the present, Arthur Curry is Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and he defends the innocents from evil or on this day, from pirates commanded by Jesse Kane (Michael Beach) and his son David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) out to steal a Russian U-Boat.  Aquaman shows no mercy and leaves them for dead, while saving the surviving U-Boat Crew from certain death.  While he celebrates with his father at a pub nearby, his moment of peace is interrupted by Princess Mera (Amber Heard), who informs him that his younger brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) is forging an alliance through manipulation and force to become Ocean Master and start a war with the surface.  He is also informed that her and Vulko have discovered the whereabouts of the first Trident wield by the first king of Atlantis, Poseidon somewhere on Earth that grants the wielder the full power of the seas and the right to become king.  Arthur is reluctant to help a home that executed his mother based on what Vulko confirmed but is forced to go on this quest after Orm with the aid of her father Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) and his fleet to create a massive Tsunami to destroy Arthur’s village that nearly killed his father.  He must now undergo a trial by fire and a globetrotting adventure to earn his right to be king but to become the hero he was meant to be for both the surface and water.

This is ultimately an odd yet unique combination of an origin story and an adventure film for the character and regarding the world of Atlantis itself, it is quite beautifully crafted in world building.  As for the character of Aquaman (with input from Momoa himself shaping the character), he is certainly a fun character to follow, despite being more like a brawny bro type that just sort of stumbles into each story beat until he must get it together by the end.  The supporting cast are performed well with Mera feeling like a character that is trying to do something to help her people, while it feels like Aquabro is kind of going along for ride but the moments with him and his father are the only parts of the film where he feels naturally comfortable in the role and his element.  The action beats are very visually eye catching and vivid to watch, especially on a large screen and booming sound system, especially near the end where the finale becomes a CGI overdose and it is stunning to look at, despite the inherent problems to be mentioned shortly with them.  The story is relatively easy to follow and ultimately follows the structure seen in other films like Thor and Thor: The Dark World as well as a discount adventure version of an Indiana Jones style film. 

Where it becomes weird and disjointed, is the amount of plot lines that are littered throughout the film from Aquaman’s adventure to become the rightful king of Atlantis, to Kane becoming vengeful for Aquaman to become Black Manta, Orm’s bloody journey to unite the kingdoms to start a war, and having to search for Poseidon’s trident all cluttered in the 2 ½ hour runtime.  There is too much plot-lines fighting for time, making for some needlessly overly stuffed yet corny writing and expository heavy plot beats working against the film, creating a bit of a trudging dull pacing to the story.  The problems of the action beats are they tend to run a bit too long at times or rely so heavily on CGI, that it becomes a chaotic, blobby mess to watch unfold (very much the big problem of the chase through Atlantis and the climatic battle of 3 different armies all at once).  It does not help that the leading pair of Aquaman and Mera have literally no chemistry at all with each other, making for the romantic and adventure scenes together cringy as well as a total emotional dud between the actors.  Ultimately, the biggest issue it never overcomes is how derivative it really is in plot and character developments/arcs that feel a bit antiquated and dated by today’s standards as well as the amount of quality superhero films that surpass it in creative quality and memorability.

Let’s get into this ocean sized cast, starting with the title character fresh from his appearance in the previous DC film Justice League as Jason Momoa has more creative control over his character this time out.  That is both a blessing and curse as he injects a vibrant yet enthusiastic energy to the character that is very affectionate to see as well as one of the few positively enjoyable performances from the film.  He is essentially a very brawny, laid back hero with headstrong attitude to the character that makes even the corny dialogue feel natural and at least sells the transformation into the iconic character.  However, the character tends to go with the flow and therefore lacks drive to push the story along, while his motivations are clear, kind of change depending on the other less interesting characters.  Momoa is clearly having a blast as Arthur Curry AKA Aquaman and that affectionate quality to his performance elevates the material a bit, as well as looking pretty cool in the classic suit near the end.

Next up, we look at Amber Heard as Princess Mera and she seems to play the one character that actually moves the plot forward and not the hero strangely enough.  She serves to be the companion/love interest for Aquabro and on her own or with others not Momoa, she is pretty decent in the role despite how odd and distracting that bright and alien that wig is on her.  That being said, she handles the action beats well enough, and she has a few moments of coolness to her character when given the chance by the story/script.  However, she really plays second fiddle to Aquaman as well as their romance really flatlining horribly through dramatic development and comedic timing/material.  She provides a serviceable companion performance to the lead character, despite the lack of chemistry and barely getting time to develop her own character during the adventure.

The other, prominent character in the cast before we sum up the majority of the supporting cast is David Kane played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and he provides a cool if truncated performance for one of Aquaman’s notable villain from his roster.  There is no denying that Abdul Mateen provides a very intense if campy performance that goes along with the zany and shifting tone of the story well.  When he gets his suit, it is cool to watch it work during one of the more explosive battles on the surface of a small village around Italy.  However, his sub plot ultimately bogs the film down tremendously and feels like it could have been saved for another film altogether and not crammed into the middle of the film for an attempt to add some exciting action, adding to the overly bloated nature of the story for this adventure.  While Black Manta was a cool and flashy addition to the film’s adventure, it feels a bit wasted in this film and could have just been saved for the inevitable sequel instead of being crammed into the middle act.

We have a slew of other character actors either hammy it up or just odd additions to the cast.  The first and most notable hammy actor of the cast is Patrick Wilson as Orm, who literally acts like typical genocidal madman #45 that has a god complex and really delivers a loud but goofy over the top villainy performance.  However, Willem Dafoe is suitably good in the mentor role of Vulko, despite only providing exposition and mainly working undercover during Orm’s reign of terror for most of the film.  The oddest cast member of the bunch is Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, who is decent if a bit awkward in the film, amplified by the strange looking wig on another actor that looks off-putting and ridiculous on him.  That is nothing compared to Arthur’s father Thomas Curry played by Temuera Morrison small but character-building role for Aquman, who shines with his interactions with Momoa, despite sporting an odd CGI de-aging for his character early on.  Lastly, we have Nicole Kidman as Atlanna and she was adequate in the role of Aquaman’s mother, even though she barely has much to do in this film as well as suffering the same uncanny issue of CGI de-aging as Morrison.  A clearly solid cast but not given much to define their characters to make it their own with the script at play here.

Now, we get to the technical aspects of the film starting with the most obvious to explore on the surface, the cinematography and CGI heavy look of the film.  It was shot by Don Burgess and there is a sense of scale to the practical settings when shot on set/stage, fitting for a globe-trotting adventure.  However, most of the film uses green/blue screens in the most awkward yet campy ways that serve to make the settings feel weightless, which works for Atlantis but is jarring in scenes on the surface.  When it comes to Atlantis, the film shines visually with its CGI, despite how derivative it may feel in what it seems like (rainbow bridge allusions from Thor or even secret world wanting to invade the real-world ala Black Panther) in creating its own world to learn and explore.  However, the CGI is very dodgy in most of the action beats and it tends to be awkward to look at when they take place.  The film is visually stunning, and the CGI is relatively high quality yet very weightless/cartoonish goofy to look at throughout the entire film.

Next up, we should mention and explore the art direction for the film, with its blend of Greek and Sci-Fi fantasy inspiration on display here.  There is this very cool blend of sci-fi with fantasy iconography with the look of Atlantis, even though we only see it for the middle act of the film.  The over the top nature of the film is on display with the look of the characters as well as pseudo futuristic look of the costumes as well as Aquaman’s iconic costume that is very cool to see physically realized despite how oddly off-putting it looks on Momoa.  They are extravagantly designed for the soldiers as well as the iconic and imposing Black Manta costumes as well as Mera’s classic comic look too.  However, it does feature some odd derivative art designs to the world with the Front entrance looking oddly like the Rainbow Bridge or even the use of green screens to replicate locations they could have shot for real instead of a studio.  It matches the somewhat inconsistent quality of the film with its art direction and designs that attempt to have its own style and artistic look but feels like it is cribbing from more inspired, better designed worlds in other comic book films.

Lastly, we have the mix of popular songs and the original score that utilizes a distinctive blend of orchestral and Synth styles of music.  It was composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams and he combines a ton of different thematic compositions akin to traditional adventure films along with a dash of Sci-Fi styled synth sounds, especially when Atlantis and the action centers around the goons and characters from that world or enhanced by it.  While it is clearly inspired and fits well within the skills of the composer from his previous works, it lacks a cohesive identity or theme to call its own with Aquaman, leading to the music being nothing more than background noise for the splendid image.  The pop songs are utilized oddly and really fell archaically placed that it may very well date the film poorly as well as creating some tonal clashes with the scenes featuring them.  The music like the visuals are well crafted and captures the mysterious, alien quality of Atlantis, but ultimately feels hollow and lacks impact in the both departments of scoring and music.

Which brings us to how the film shapes up as a whole, despite being a runaway hit at the Box Office and audience love this film at the moment.  Aquaman is visually and artistically well-crafted in its world building as well as creature/costume designs and a feast to the eyes with its mostly impressive CGI as well as the strong if unremarkable sound design.  On a technical level, it is truly a worthwhile viewing on the big screen for sure but if you are looking for substance or even inventive creativity in its story and characters, it is sorely missing here.  The story is very rote and basic with characters that fulfill a perfunctory role in the traditional Superhero narrative structure and despite its gorgeously created effects and artistry, it tends to be a mixed bag of hollowed style and campiness that deflates the energy of the action beats or the film as a whole.  It is certainly a step in the right direction but that is not enough to ignore the film’s derivative quality where it matters the most, its story and the characters themselves.  However, it can't be denied that this film does deliver on the spectacle, despite the overall film feeling a bit shallow by the end of it.

Score: *** out of *****

DC Films/Warner Bros.’ Aquaman is the right step forward for DC films and WB, into making a solid, competently crafted superhero adventure that does deliver on the spectacle of the vibrant yet chaotic action set pieces as well as some genuinely awe-inspiring art direction/designs along with some campy yet fun CGI extravaganza to make most viewers looking for a good time satisfied overall.  However, the film fumbles and poorly provides in the areas that matter the most, its basic predictable storyline, along with a cast of characters that are fine in performances but lack any semblance of character development or mismatch chemistry to make them standout.  The performances from most of the cast is great, even Jason Momoa in the title role, but the script and questionable creative choices made to their characters dilute a very thin story in a world that is compelling and intriguing to see for the brief moments throughout the runtime.   Definitely one of the better produced and creatively driven superhero adventure from DC films but not quite a remarkable one that can rise above the clichés, troupes, and formulaic storytelling approach that holds it back unfortunately.