Glass: Trailer #3 Promises Super-Powered Action

Glass would like you to know that the three super-powered characters at the center of its narrative won't be sitting down for a nice cup of coffee.

A short and sweet third trailer for the concluding chapter in M. Night Shyamalan's trilogy dropped today on Universal Pictures' YouTube channel — and what it lacks in length, it makes up for in pulse-pounding action. 

Glass is the sequel to 2017's Split, which introduced James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with 23 distinct personalities — along with a previously hidden 24th, an unstoppable monster known only as the Beast. At that film's end, it revealed itself to be a stealth sequel to Shyamalan's 2000 drama Unbreakable, in which Bruce Willis' David Dunn — an all-around ordinary guy who just so happens to be indestructible — finds that his fate is being determined by the machinations of evil mastermind Elijah Price, AKA Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson).

McAvoy, Willis, and Jackson will all reprise their roles from the previous films, as will Anya Taylor-Joy (who appeared in Split as the sole survivor of the Beast's rampage) and Spencer Treat Clark (who portrayed David Dunn's son Joseph in Unbreakable). Joining the cast are Charlayne Woodard as the mother of the nefarious Mr. Glass, and Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellie Staple, a psychiatrist at the institution where the super-powered trio are being held.

While the new spot does reuse some footage from previous trailers, it also gives us a sneak peek at what is sure to be a titanic conflict between Dunn and the Beast. Dunn is seen defending an unsuspecting group of cheerleaders from the monster by chucking a huge, heavy table at him (which the Beast fields quite easily), and the aftermath of the Beast's escape from the institution is seen a bit more clearly (hint: it involves a whole lot of police officers who really should have called in sick to work that day).

The physicality which McAvoy brings to his role is on full display here, and there are also tantalizing quick cuts of big steel doors flying off of hinges, security guards being tossed about like rag dolls, and the Beast facing off with a hooded (and incredibly badass-looking) Dunn.

After a long streak of terribly-received films, Shyamalan has clawed his way back to respectability in recent years, beginning with 2015's found footage shocker The Visit. This was followed up with Split, which stunned audiences by virtue of being one of the best horror films of a year absolutely stuffed to the gills with them, and also with the mind-blowing reveal of its connection to Unbreakable in its closing moments.

All signs point to Glass continuing this winning streak, as fans of horror flicks and superhero blockbusters alike will be lining up to throw money at the picture. Shyamalan's next project will be an as-yet untitled psychological thriller series he'll be producing for Apple, so it may be awhile before we see the director's distinctive touch on the big screen again. But his return to form is certainly starting to look like no fluke — and Glass looks like a big enough serving of Shyamalan awesomeness to keep fans satiated for quite some time.

Glass hits the big screen on January 18, 2019.