The highly anticipated Glass by M. Night Shyamalan revisits three of this most iconic characters. First, there is David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the forlorn Philadelphia security guard who discovered he’s basically indestructible.
He becomes the reluctant hero, putting his gift into use although he is unwilling. Then there is Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who lives with the agony of having brittle bones that shatter like glass. Growing up immersed in the world of comics, he badly yearns to become a superhero like the ones he meets in the comics. Both David and Elijah are from the movie Unbreakable. The third and most recent character is Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), the psychopath with 24 personalities from the movie Split.
All three will converge in Glass, with David pursuing the Beast character of Kevin, and with Price in the background playing puppet master. Eventually, all three will meet in a mental asylum, being studied by Sarah Paulson’s character, Dr. Ellie Staple.
With the three movies connected with one another, here’s a revisit to Unbreakable and Split to prepare yourself for Glass.
Unbreakable (2000)
The movie draws its theme from superhero comics, but transplanted it into the reality of this world. It starts off with Dunn being the sole survivor of a massive train wreck in Philadelphia, completely unharmed. Following that, he receives a note from Price, asking him if he has ever gotten ill. This sends Dunn to evaluate his life. It turns out that Dunn has never gotten sick, can bench-press 350 pounds with ease and has this spider-sense that tingles whenever danger is around the corner. In fact, Dunn can “see” the actions of bad people upon touch.
Price, nicknamed “Mr Glass”, is an art dealer and comic aficionado who has always been questioning about his role in this world. A comic fanatic since young, he’s obsessed about finding if there are in fact superheroes that exist in our world. By proving that a person like Dunn, a man who’s indestructible, exists, it gives him a sense of purpose. And being polar opposites, Price sees Dunn as a sort of arch enemy, just like the comics between heroes and villains. The ending of Unbreakable is a welcome twist that leaves audiences waiting for its sequel.
Split (2016)
A man kidnaps three girls from the parking lot of a shopping mall. He locks them in a cell in his underground quarters. Then slowly, the girls realise that the man behaves weirdly when he shows up at different times. Sometimes, he acts like a child named Hedwig, sometimes, he becomes Patricia, a fashion designer to be exact, and sometimes, he’s back to being the kidnapper, Kevin. They soon realise that Kevin has different personalities. One of the girls, Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), takes advantage of this and approaches Hedwig for help. A series of encounters with Kevin’s different personalities ensues, all leading up to Kevin releasing his latest personality, The Beast.
The movie ends with Dunn making an appearance at a scene of crime, watching with grave concern as a lady beside him recounts a criminal who committed murders 15 years ago and was locked up. The last line of the movie is David saying “Mr Glass”.
The revelation that Split and Unbreakable exists in the same universe, just 15years apart sets fans of Shyamalan yearning for a sequel. Just like his first movie The Sixth Sense, it’s only after finishing the movie that pieces of the puzzle come together.
Kevin’s father was said to have died in a train crash, very likely the one that David survived. AND David had most likely encountered a young Kevin with his mother back in Unbreakable. In a scene where David was putting his abilities to use, trying to sense evil in others, he was standing in a crowded hallway of the stadium he worked at when a mother and son bumped into him. There and then, he heard several anguished voices. It could very well be a young Kevin, who later would become a man with 24 personalities.
It turns out Shyamalan had always planned for Kevin to appear in Unbreakable but decided to only concentrate on David’s personal story as not to distract from him and his powers and how it plays off against Elijah’s condition. All these only means that the lives of Kevin, David and Elijah are intertwined, and they will finish their unfinished business in Glass. We can hardly wait!
