2000’s UNBREAKABLE, is no joke, probably one of my favorite superhero movies of all time. Unlike other similar “gritty” or “realistic” superhero movies – ala THE DARK KNIGHT or LOGAN – UNBREAKABLE wasn’t bogged down by fan expectations or the need to have a flashy climax (and yes, fighting a younger version of yourself counts as flashy). So it was allowed to be mostly a character study for most of it, and even the big bad he fights at the end is just some shitty – albeit strong – dude.
Even his “arch nemesis” Mr. Glass is given time to grow on us. And, furthermore, without the SMALLVILLE or GREEN LANTERN problem of us knowing the comic-book lore – and reveling in the dramatic irony of how we know Luthor and Sinestro will eventually turn on the heroes – I’d argue the final twist works in that film, even if doing so right after SIXTH SENSE wasn’t director M. Night Shyamalan‘s best career move.
Anyway, with SPLIT being a stealth UNBREAKABLE sequel, its success has led to a third film in what I’m dubbing the “UNBREAKA-verse” GLASS – focusing on the aforementioned Mr. Glass, played by Samuel L. Jackson in the original film. Here’s the official synopsis:
From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast.
Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb’s superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
This riveting culmination of his worldwide blockbusters will be produced by Shyamalan and Jason Blum, who also produced the writer/director’s previous two films for Universal. They produce again with Ashwin Rajan and Marc Bienstock, and Steven Schneider, who will executive produce.
While this sounds awesome in theory, I am worried of it getting too “comic-book-y”, since being so down-to-earth is what helped UNBREAKABLE, and to a lesser-extent the psychological horror aspect kept SPLIT from becoming too comic-book-y as well (though it was cheesy in other ways). However, I’m excited to see what Shyamalan has up his sleeve.
Meanwhile, GLASS will break through theaters January 18th, 2019.