Many associate filmmaker M. Night Shaymalan with his affinity for twists. But the greatest strength of all his movies are his characters. Almost all of them  are outsiders, alone from the rest of the world. When it comes to characters, nowhere is it best shown than through the newest release, Glass. This new release serves as the conclusion to the Eastrail 177 Trilogy, following up 2000’s Unbreakable and 2017’s Split. Through three phenomenal leads, Glass is a compelling and powerful character drama all about outcasts. A wonderful ending to a strange, but endearing trilogy of thrillers.

David Dunn is a sole survivor of a train crash. Elijah Price is a sociopath suffering years of bullying for a disease he was born with. Kevin Wendell Crumb has many split personalities, created through years of abuse from his cruel mother. All these men are outcasts from society. They are ignored, mistreated because of their imperfections. One became a hero, the others villains. These three characters find themselves together in a mental institution, and is where the best moments of the film take place. All three actors, whether friend or foe, have this great chemistry with one another, and are having fun working off each other. James McAvoy in particular delivers a powerhouse performance. This film has much more split personalities than Split did, and McAvoy sells each one. He also brings plenty of emotion and sympathy to his role.

Shaymalan also brings his A-game here. The cramped cinematography is effective, showing the oppression each of the leads go through. And like with his other movies, he swoops and swerves around the actors, making each scene all the more believable. Action scenes are spare, but well-choreographed, with a great sense of bite. The opening fight between David and Kevin in particular uses a lot of great shadows to create a strong sense of atmosphere.

But the strongest element that makes the film special is its ending. While it does drag a touch, there are so many great twists and turns within these last 20 minutes. Without going into spoilers, the film goes further into the themes of outcasts. How outcasts get manipulated and abused by those in power, gatekeeped from their full potential and ignored except by the few who care for them. The last moments in particular are fantastic, making this a great trilogy capper.

While Glass might not hit the excellence of its predecessors, it’s still a great conclusion to the trilogy either way. Despite all three movies being very different, Shaymalan manages to tie all of these movies together cohesively all through one idea: the broken. We ignore the broken, punish the broken, and abandon the broken. But the broken are still among us, waiting for their moment to shine. To show the world their true powers. After all, the broken are the more evolved.