Could Have Been Great

Rating: 6/10 (9 August 2002)

This is a pretty good movie, and will be especially enjoyable to comic book fans. I was a rabid collector at one point, so I've read many of the the origins of superpowered characters. The rest of this review contains many major SPOILERS.
Firstly, what I liked about the movie. I really loved the slow, deliberate pacing. This slow pacing accentuates the problems Willis' character is having accepting his lack of sickness and his seeming invulnerability. He is groping for an answer to his past, and he wants it to be as "normal" as possible. Willis is often cast in parts (like this) without much dialogue; this is not due to his lack of acting ability, but because his face and eyes are so uniquely, and poignantly, expressive in non-verbal communication. The drama this "good" man faces confronting his insecurities is plausible, as he very gradually comes to accept his uniqueness. This is shown very well in the weightlifting scene where his son keeps adding more and more weights to the bar. I was very satisfied with this side of the story, including his first crime-solving caper. I just didn't care for the Glass Man story. Jackson's character is so incredibly sympathetic and downright pitiful for 90% of the film that it's very difficult to suddenly accept him as a crazed lunatic in the last couple of scenes. It would have been better if he knew of some super-villain (through his acute powers of observation) who committed these atrocities, and pointed Willis in that direction. Also, The childbirth scene at the beginning is horrifying, and creates even more sympathy for the Glass Man character. The final thing that bothered me is the very abrupt ending. I expected another 15 or 30 minutes of story, but the story ends very weakly with words on screen briefly describing what happened to the key characters. All in all, this was a noble experiment of a film. I liked half of it plus the slow pacing adds to the mystery, but I disliked how the Glass Man story developed and I also hated the ending. A mixed bag from my POV, so I give it 6/10.