We all know The Sixth Sense, we all know Signs, but Unbreakable is an M. Night Shyamalan movie that many people forget... and one that's not a horror movie!
Unbreakable stars Bruce Willis as David Dunn, a man who miraculously comes out of a devastating train crash unharmed, and Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, a man whose bones break extremely easily through some genetic disorder, he hypothesizes. Doctors and David's family are astounded as to how David could survive, let alone walk out unscathed, but Elijah feels as if he has the answers to the questions that David is asking, what everybody's asking.
I like M. Night Shyamalan. He is a fantastic director and an imaginative screenwriter. In fact, Signs is on my Top 10 list. What I love about his movies is that he takes a known concept or urban legend and flips it on its head in a quasi-believable fashion. In The Sixth Sense, those odd camera glares in photos were actually ghosts that were nearby. In Signs, the crop circles really were alien work and the static in baby monitors was a sign of invasion. In The Happening, ominous wind gusts were signs of the earth reclaiming their planet from humankind. Unbreakable is M. Night's tribute to comic books. In fact, Samuel L. Jackson's character is a vintage seller in a local Philadelphia shop, and there are several elements that make this movie seem like a modern-day Superman.
Like other Shyamalan movies, there are unique camera angles. However, when I was watching this film, most of my group said that they were weird, so they may be polarizing to you as a viewer, but as for myself, I enjoyed their use in artistic vision. It is important, though, to remember that this is one of Shyamalan's earlier films, and so every camera angle has a reason, similar to The Sixth Sense, with faint foreshadowing through every shot.
Despite this being a superhero movie, it is not very action-packed nor very intense. I must stress to you that this a character drama and not a thriller like The Sixth Sense nor an action film like Die Hard. It is very dialogue-based. So since there isn't much action, how is the pacing and story? I must say that the film's story is rather intriguing, interesting enough to keep your interest during most of the 100 or so minutes of the film. However, the film suffers from a weak second act and no true sense of a conflict. The first act spends its time showing Willis's disbelief and the last act shows Willis accepting his place in life, being unbreakable. I can't really tell you what the second act was, even if I tried; It was just there. Throughout the film, Samuel L. Jackson tries to explain to Bruce Willis who he is and Bruce tries to deny it. That's the gist. But by the end of the film, the pace picks up in a rather exciting finale and an ending that, while not being as shocking as The Sixth Sense, is equally satisfying for me. Unbreakable is an origin story, and like any origin story, the same faults apply. I felt the same way with Batman Begins, as you may have read in my The Dark Knight review back in July last year, which is why I am eagerly awaiting a sequel to one-up this one like The Dark Knight did to Batman Begins, which I am sure Shyamalan will return to developing after his next string of projects are done.
So in conclusion, the acting is good, the concept is great, but since there is a weak second act and a real lack of intense conflict, I can only give this movie 3 out of 5 stars, although the film is worth seeing solely for great performances by Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, some great moments of suspense and storytelling, as well as a worthwhile ending.
Have you seen Unbreakable? What did you think? What's your favorite M. Night Shyamalan film? Let me know in the comments section below!
David and Elijah discuss why David became a security guard.
This last bit includes spoilers. Proceed with caution:
As for the ending of Unbreakable, I think it served its purpose well, but I think that most critics are wrong for saying that it wasn't as "surprising" as The Sixth Sense. Take The Dark Knight. It's considered the greatest superhero movie of all time, but the ending isn't shocking in an M. Night kind of way. Critics were unreasonably biased to think that Shyamalan was going to pull another Inception-style ending with a superhero movie. However, that doesn't mean that the ending didn't have its own type of shock value. Elijah Price, the man that we've been tempted to believe and feel sympathy for, turns out to be the big bad villain of the movie, adding a whole new layer of depth to the movie. It seems like a turn I would make in a short story, now that I am thinking about it. The reasons for why he did the things he did are there, giving this film the icing on the cake. Not being based off a comic book, I see this movie as more of a tribute to the comics, as I said before in the review.
I also think that the movie in general is very similar to Batman Begins in many respects, especially in the case of Elijah Price. Elijah is like David's mentor figure throughout the film, much like Ra's al Ghul/ Ducard was in Begins's first act. However, like al Ghul, Elijah turns out to be the hero's archenemy. As Elijah states in his closing monologue, "In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain's going to be? He's the exact opposite of the hero, and most time's they're friends, like you and me." By the end of Unbreakable, the movie becomes less of a story of David and more about Elijah trying to find himself and the consequences that come from it. Last year, we had The Amazing Spider-Man where the villain was a likable character that was overcome with his scientific technology. With Unbreakable, however, our villain, Elijah, is a rather tragic character, one who we see throughout the film trying to adjust to life as being breakable, and his attempt to try to find his second half, one who is unbreakable. And to me, that's the best part of the whole picture.
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