Split Unbreakable Glass

Frankly, I'm stunned. I remember finding the forum thread for this project and thinking "There's no way this is going to work." IMO, movie mashups rarely work as well as intended; they're sometimes fun, but often they almost never feel like a cohesive whole. But in this case, I could not have been more wrong. It helps that the films combined here are from the same director with a distinctive visual style, but this is some truly masterful work from Wraith combining them into what actually feels like a single narrative. I wasn't really a fan of these movies on their own. Of the three, I prefer Split (since I'm a horror head), but even that was a lot of time to spend in a pretty gross situation. But Unbreakable was so slow and dour, and Glass just did not work at all for me. This, though? This rules. I doubt I'll ever watch the original films again since tells the story of the trilogy in a much more satisfying way. It's largely the same, btw. There are some changes and some surprises for sure, but I don't think it radically alters the bones of the story Shyamalan was trying to tell. Even if you are a fan of the original films in their entirety, though, I think you'll still get something out of this. It truly is a masterclass in editing, and the graph for where to put all these elements in the edit must have been labyrinthine.
Yes, it's non-linear, and yes, it's broken up into "chapters." Again, I wouldn't expect to work, and it's a testament to how much thought and care Wraith put into this that it works as well as it does, which is very well indeed. Not once did it feel disjointed, and that's a bit of a miracle. Early on in the edit, I noticed a shot was slowed down, which I found a little distracting, but then it kept happening, and it started to feel like a stylistic choice, one that gives the film (along with some subtle score work) a kind of Lynchian quality that matches quite well. I hesitate to say more because I don't want to ruin any surprises, but suffice it to say that this should be essential viewing for anyone truly interested in fan-editing. It's one of the best (and most-labor intensive) I've ever seen. Get the full-resolution version if you can; it's top quality, and I noticed no issues with the audio or video.

This edit sits in a weird place for me. The idea behind combining three films into one works perfectly here, and I had very little (if any) to complain about in that regard. The pacing was great, the title screens and music that was added in to supplement the structure was fantastic and flawless, and I rated it as such.

However, while I very much enjoyed Unbreakable and Split as individual movies, I absolutely hated Glass. The awful trope of the generic shadowy organization that was included in Glass just absolutely killed it for me. I could live with every single other flaw in that movie but it just completely derailed it for me (Hancock is another prime example of this, albeit slightly different).
I was hoping against hope that Wraith would find a way to remove all traces of this shadow organization, and I don't fault him for leaving it in (it would probably ruin the integrity of the movie if all those scenes were cut/trimmed) it DID diminish my enjoyment of the film as a whole.

I wondered if there was any way to start having more of the Glass content show up earlier in the film. It felt like Glass was trying to encase the stories of Unbreakable and Split (as intended) but didn't quite capture that element perfectly for me. It felt like I was watching Unbreakable and Split interlaced together, and then afterwards I was watching Glass with some extended flashbacks.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, all of the other flaws with Glass were trimmed/adjusted in a way to VASTLY improve the quality of that portion of the movie, and was improved even more by blending it with the other two films. I was also bummed to see so much of Split removed, but I understand the necessity, and I again do not hold that against Wraith, as the inclusion of any more of Unbreakable and Split would have obliterated the pacing.

Is this project worth watching? Absolutely. This cut made Glass tolerable enough that I sat through the entirety of it. Is this project greater than the sum of its parts? I think if you hated Glass less than I did, your answer will most certainly be yes.

Props to you Wraith, sorry if this review seems super negative, you have absolutely achieved greatness here.

I am very new to the community of fan editing and this is the first full edit that I have sat down and watched in earnest. I am a big fan of the Shyamalan’s original trilogy and have seen all of the films multiple times, so I was very excited to see what Wraith was able to do with them.

Audio/Video Quality – 10

Everything in the AV department was overall great. The cuts between the different films blended smoothly and if I had not seen the originals, I doubt I would have been able to pick out which scenes were from which film easily. No complaints here.

Visual Editing – 10

This is one area where I was thoroughly impressed. I won’t go into any spoilers, but there were a few scenes where I actually paused and went back to rewatch something that was changed from the original. These edits were done so seamlessly that a new viewer would never know that the scene had been altered at all. Fantastic work.

Audio Editing – 9

I watched this on my bedroom tv streaming from my home plex server, so I can’t speak too much on the fine details of the audio editing. What I can say is that I was not constantly fighting the volume controls because of audio balancing where I couldn’t hear the actors like I often deal with when watching plenty of films. Nothing in this category broke my immersion at all, and that is a good thing.

Narrative – 8

The new narrative structure kept things fresh and had me engaged the entire time. This cut is 3 hours and 30 minutes long, but it did not feel that long when watching. The new narrative feels like Glass was the main shell of the edit with scenes from Unbreakable and Split mixed in so that the viewer has a complete understanding of the story. For the most part, I did not miss any of the scenes that were completely cut from the movies and their removal contributed to keeping the forward momentum going. I think the only time that I was given pause on the narrative is during some of the Split scenes where there are three girls and then eventually one of the girls disappears without explanation until later in the film. A minor nitpick and not a massive deal imo. Scenes from previous films were spliced into certain scenes from Glass that added a new sense of emotional impact and gravitas that the original version was completely lacking. The improvements on the portions of Glass were easily my biggest takeaway from this edit.

Enjoyment - 9

Overall, I had a fantastic time watching this edit and seeing what Wraith was able to accomplish by mixing these three films together. I don’t think it stands as a replacement for the original trilogy, but as a companion to them. When I want to rewatch the whole story in one sitting or just don’t feel like watching the three originals, I’ll have this one to go back to.
I would 100% recommend this edit to anyone who enjoyed the original films and would like to experience this story in a new way. You are certainly in for some moments that will make you see things a new way and smile.

I really enjoyed this edit, it was done very well. I really like Unbreakable and Split, but I did not like Glass at all. This edit still had some of my issues with Glass, but for the most part the elements from Glass were a major improvement. Very well done, especially considering you can only work with you've got. Nice job Wraith.

Riveting and Unrelenting!

As someone who has watched all three films multiple times, I was stunned at how fresh, intriguing and mesmerizing this fan edit turned out. I was fully engaged from minute one (btw GREAT OPENING CREDITS!!!!) and the movie never let go. To me, it did not feel remotely like 3 hours. I was shocked when I looked at the time when the movie ended. A testament to Wraith's editing skills and masterfully crafted new narrative. Brilliant stuff!

If I had to nitpick, there were four minor moments where I went "hhhmmmmm....?" -- one, the placement of the SPLIT post-credit scene stands out visually as David looks completely different (fully bald, no beard) from the rest of the movie; two, David follows Hedwig, but the next scene he is in conversation with The Beast, it felt like something was missing; three. the intercutting from David using his touch ability in the past and on the street I think could have benefited from some underlying unifying music, and four, the most minor of all, Dr. Fletcher is entirely removed from the movie but we do see an old woman's dead body where Casey has been held prisoner... it just feels like an odd unexplained moment. Though I do not know how it could be resolved other than maybe with additional zoom and cropping?

Technically the edit was perfect to my eye and ear, and I must stress again, the new storyline was engrossing, filled with tension and mystery. An amazing achievement!

Highly recommended!!!