Glorious: A Review

Have you ever wondered what a conversation would be like with a god trapped in a stall in a dirty rest stop bathroom? Yeah, me neither. Nonetheless, this is what director Rebekah McKendry explores in Glorious–a horror flick whose subgenre I simply can’t decide. Is it a creature feature? If you consider the god “Ghat” a creature then yes, however you only ever see his floating gelatinous ass. Is it psychological thriller? For the main character Wes, maybe, but mostly just confusing for the viewer. So how can I describe this film?

We meet main character Wes–I hesitate to consider him the protagonist–as he breaks at a rest stop, drinking himself into a frenzy and then quickly passing out on the pavement. This of course, leads to him puking his guts out in the bathroom where he meets his counterpart for the rest of the film, Ghatanothos (“Ghat”, as Wes nicknames him). Wes becomes trapped and we are now stuck here with him for the rest of the movie. There are several things this flick does really well, but unfortunately due to a lackluster character development and a boring plot, Glorious fell flat of its title.

Acting

J.K. Simmons–are you kidding me?!? This oscar winner gives a personality to a character we never see on screen (aside, as I’ve said, from the ass). He is literally just a voice in a toilet stall, but his subtle use of tone and diction makes this totally unreal scenario kind of believable. Ghat seemingly has little personality (he’s been in his own plane for like, millions of years, can you blame him?), but it is the clever nuances used by Simmons that makes this performance stand out.

Simmons didn’t have to carry this movie however, because our leading man, portrayed by Ryan Kwanten, gave a steady performance as the continually unloveable Wes. I was unsure of the acting for the first half of the movie, but I realized I was just generally unsure of the character. As you learn little bits of information about him, it becomes clear that Kwanten has given a realistic approach to a person with Wes’ psyche. Even though I obviously have issues with the character writing, I enjoyed the performance as it gave a little light to the character while actually keeping me entertained.

Visuals

The visual effects in this movie are decent, albeit unnecessary. Ghat’s visuals (yes, again, the ass) are well made as well as some other small vfx moments throughout the movie. The cinematography used outside of the bathroom is bright and visually appealing–a direct contrast to the dark, disgusting prison that is the rest stop. The camera work was done well in parallel to the pacing of the story. I did find it strange that everything was red during Wes’ breakdown, but that was just a strange scene in general.

Sound

Minimally used throughout, the original score is seemingly placed only to highlight key moments or emotions. I love it when films go the extra mile to make clever use of their sound, but I will say there wasn’t much to the score itself. I did love the mirroring of the song “Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie” performed by The Bell Sisters and Bing Crosby in both the opening and closing credits. Without spoiling anything, the tone of the ending is slightly ambiguous. The layering of this cheerful tune from the beginning makes the viewer question the events that just happened. “Was that a good thing that just happened?” “Is everything going to be okay?” Personally, I love when a film leaves me unsure and unsettled, which is what the use of this song does.

Plot

This is where the movie loses major points from me. Ghat eventually explains what is happening and what needs to happen, but this happens far too late into the story. At this point I was already bored and checking my emails on my phone. I spent too long waiting for the “why” in this story that it felt like a meaningless conversation between two random characters. Any time I felt like I was going to get an explanation, I had to spend more time watching Wes trying to escape and completely ignore Ghat, aka the source of information in this film. This might have been forgivable if the character had any redeeming qualities, but even knowing very little about him it is clear that Wes is kind of a douche. The way he randomly screams in his car in an early scene was so annoying–I don’t know if I was supposed to feel sorry for him, but I just didn’t. We learn barely anything about him throughout the course of the story, and at the end we learn just enough to know we were right to not like him at all. I did like Ghat as a character, but unfortunately, he wasn’t the star. There are a couple of small side characters, but they are so inconsequential to the plot I didn’t feel it was necessary to mention them.

Is it scary?

No, absolutely not.

I would not call this an unwatchable movie. It did keep me entertained, to a certain extent, and there were some things to appreciate. If anything, I may just watch it again to hear J.K Simmons as a toilet stall god one more time. Overall though, this is not a great film. Glorious will not be living in glory any time soon.