It's like Dr. Fletcher all over again...
"This is where they will paint you with big eyes and bubbles of confusion above your head."
— Elijah Price / Mr. Glass to Pierce
Although Glass returns to the superhero roots of Unbreakable, it still hasn't forgotten about its horror elements, as these moments can attest.
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Dear lord, the flashback to the carnival ride that was cut from Unbreakable! When Elijah was a kid, he carried a load of large stuffed animal prizes and boarded a metal spinning ride that jerks the rider back and forth. Placing the animals on either side of him serves as a safety cushion... up until he sees his mother desperately screaming for the ride to stop, and he begins to realize the toys are falling off. Once he's sitting on the ride, completely barebones, he is jerked around helplessly, with his injuries compounding grotesquely.
- The shocking murder of Daryl the orderly via Slashed Throat with a piece of glass. It's an incredibly sudden and chilling moment that Mr. Glass isn't as much of a Non-Action Big Bad as his physical fragility might lead us to believe.Patricia: What do we call you, sir?
Mr. Glass: First name, Mister. Last name, Glass. - His fake plan that he reveals to the Horde? Use his pedigree to commit another act of terror by blowing up the first three floors of Osaka Tower on the day of its grand opening. As if derailing trains wasn't enough.
- What happens when Joseph tells the Beast that Kevin's father died on the same train that helped the Overseer discover his Nigh-Invulnerability, and the Beast walks towards Mr. Glass in utter rage? He doesn't panic: instead, he admits that he didn't want him to know that yet, but then gleefully rejoices with the absolute Contrived Coincidence that allowed the Overseer and the Horde to become reality. The idea that he never feels threatened by a cannibalistic being, instead celebrating his extra victory gained from the Eastrail 177 crash, conveys just who Mr. Glass has become after so many years of searching for a purpose."I truly am... a mastermind."
- What comes after this is much, much worse. The Beast apologises to Mr. Glass for what they must do, pointing out that their primary reason for existing is to protect Kevin. Then the Beast crushes his left shoulder, with a squelchy, Sickening "Crunch!" and horrifying screams from Mr. Glass. Do keep in mind that his brittle bone disease probably makes the pain even more agonising. When the Overseer interrupts the Beast's revenge, wanting to take him down, Mr. Glass jokes that he's finally a good guy due to the Overseer's "unflinching sense of good", despite suffering immense pain. Then the Beast forcefully shoves Mr. Glass back, crushing the latter's organs in the process. And when he tries to get off his wheelchair, Mr. Glass falls on the hard ground, further breaking more bones and coughing out blood. A fitting, yet grisly end for the fragile mastermind, Mr. Glass.
- Cinematographer Mike Gioulakis upped the ante with a new detail:
- Shooting from the perspective of those caught in the Beast's and the Overseer's battles. That means that you get to witness the nauseating pain that innocent people had to endure.
- One unfortunate, escaping cheerleader can only stand in shock as the Beast throws a table at her, which knocks her out cold.
- Pierce's death. First, he finds Mr. Glass describing the moments the former will face before his death, which is quoted above in this page. Then the Beast lowers himself behind Pierce, angrily declaring that he hurt Mr. Glass. When Pierce demands the two get back in their rooms, the Beast hugs him to a painful degree, likely crusing his ribs and spine. As this hapless mental asylum worker falls to his knees, we see Mr. Glass from Pierce's point of view, highlighting how Mr. Glass has finally taken control of the situation. Then the Beast beats that body to a bloody pulp, offscreen. Judging by the sounds of those fists, it's safe to say that the cleanup crew have a lot of work to do.
- When the Beast gets outside Raven Hill Memorial, he flips a car with understandably terrified security over without much visible strain outside his normal snarl. And the camera tilts while inside the car.
- When the Overseer and the Beast grapple with each other, colliding a Raven Hill Memorial van, two female workers who were caught by the Beast and shoved inside that vehicle are screaming every time the Beast or the Overseer is shoved onto the van's doors from the outside. And the Overseer even punches dents through the van.
- The Beast facing a squad of riot police. While the Overseer spared four of them from a grisly fate by shoving them into a cargo container and locking them inside, the Beast effortlessly slaughters the group he's faced with with his bare hands. When the Overseer says he's the only one capable of stopping him, he's not kidding.
- Special mention must go to one officer, who is knocked on the ground and is at the mercy of the Beast, only having his riot shield to protect him from harm. Unfortunately, the Beast eventually knocks away that last defence, leaving us to see the Beast's vicious expression, which goes off-screen as we hear chomping noises. When we see the Beast again, blood can be seen around his mouth.
- Several of the other personalities of the Horde appear and they have become more unified which means Dennis, Patricia, and Hedwig have managed to convince other personalities that the Beast, a cannibal psychopath with superpowers, is a good thing!
- The Ancient Conspiracy.
- They are a group that have killed superpowered beings for 10,000 years. All because they think that their differences pose a threat to all of mankind. And they really serve their credentials well, when they end up drowning the Overseer by using his weakness of water against him. The brutality of that slow and simple act cannot be underestimated, with the Overseer's struggles to keep his breath being a highlight.
- Think about this from the Overseer's perspective. In summary, a chain of hope spots leading towards a literal watery grave. To elaborate, he's weakened from falling into the water tank, for starters. But a SWAT team is heading towards him, so they can tend to his injuries, right? WRONG. He is then forcibly dragged, lacking the strength to knock them off him, and what he sees ahead is a flooded pothole. The SWAT team proceed to shove his face into the puddle, causing him to struggle with all his might. From this, it's bringing back memories of the time where he almost died, because two skinny little kids were fooling around in a pool, dunking him and causing him to swallow some of the deadly liquid. Suddenly, he sees Dr. Ellie Staple walking over to him, asking to take her hand. Rescue is finally here, right? WRONG AGAIN. He obliges, but his eyes widen as he sees her crimes, which are that of the Ancient Conspiracy. She then informs him that he could have lived if he had just accepted being under delusions of grandeur, meaning that his Heroic Willpower as the Overseer was All for Nothing. The drowning then continues with her ordering the SWAT team to end his life, as he spends his last minutes fighting with all of his might to no avail, until his body goes limp. As if that wasn't enough, his last thoughts can be drawn to utter misery, pain, and emptiness in failing to stop this villainous organisation, besides Mr. Glass. And he knows that when his life fades away, Joseph will become an orphan. In the end, the Overseer's fear was proved wrong when. nineteen years ago, he said that "heroes don't get killed like [his near-childhood drowning]", and that only normal people can.
- In a way, Staple's scream of frustration when she realized Glass secretly won. She's been so calm the entire movie, so it can be kind of a jump scare.
