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Writer's pictureMelanie Roussel

'Glass' promises a different kind of superhero

Updated: Jun 13

Who else is looking forward to a different sort of superhero movie?


M Night Shyamalan is one of those polarising directors who almost everyone has an opinion on. Almost every film he's produced has a now-famous twist. In fact, spoiling a Shyamalan twist should be a punishable offence. The Six Sense, Signs, The Village, The Happening, After Earth and Devil are all his.


During the recent San Diego’s Comic-Con, M Night Shyamalan showed a trailer for his new superhero movie, Glass. This is Shyamalan's version of a Marvel canon, as it's actually the third movie in a line up of Unbreakable, with Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson and Split with James McAvoy.


I'm really looking forward to it. If nothing else, Shyamalan's movies always led to a fun hour of arguing about the plot at the pub.


A new kind of superhero


But there's more. What Unbreakable, Split and now Glass are is the answer to anyone saying 'I'm tired of superhero movies'. People who usually say that are thinking of the head to head of Marvel and DC. These are very specific comic book movies, which have over the top graphical styles, loud colours and reliably cheesy dialogue.


Well, DC has no decent dialogue at all, but that's just my opinion...


The superhero genre is far more complex than Superman and we see that in M Night Shyamalan's work. These are 'real' superheroes. Normal people with all their inevitable flaws, with unusual abilities.


With Marvel and DC coming to a close on their major story arcs, my hope is we're going to see a shift towards superhero movies and television series where their ability merely a string to their bow. I liked Jessica Jones, which is far more of a gritty thriller than a superhero series. While both Jessica and her main antagonist, Killgrave, have ludicrous powers, they're used in a way that it's easy to see them an analogist. Jessica is strong, capable, but underneath it all, deeply scared and troubled. Killgrave is manipulative, devious and essentially an abusive ex-boyfriend. That's a tale as old as time and the fact they happen to have superpowers is almost irrelevant.


It looks like Glass is going to fall neatly into that wheelhouse, between the fantastical and yet still believable.


I'm really going to have to sit down and watch Split now...


https://youtu.be/95ghQs5AmNk


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