Unbreakable-2000
Director M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson
Scott’s Review #1,260
Reviewed May 29, 2022
Grade: A-
Following the brilliant and massive critical and commercial success of The Sixth Sense (1999), M. Night Shyamalan hit his stride and became a household name for blending supernatural and psychological elements into a web of compelling storytelling.
Following 2002’s Signs, credibility tapered a bit, but Unbreakable (2000) is an overlooked gem falling in the shadows of The Sixth Sense, which everyone remembers best when they talk about the director.
The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are also strong counterparts because they both star Hollywood legend Bruce Willis, who, it can be argued, began to gain respectability within the industry with the former.
He continues his superior acting and calm character approach.
Unbreakable is part thriller, science fiction, and superhero film, so I have categorized it accordingly.
It’s part of an Unbreakable film series and was followed by Split (2016) and Glass (2019), which took years to develop and were decent if underwhelming projects.
Unbreakable is by far the best of the bunch.
David Dunn (Willis) is a regular guy who works as a security guard at a college football stadium. He is a former star college quarterback whose dreams of stardom never materialized because of a car accident.
He lives a somewhat melancholy yet decent life with his wife, Audrey (Robin Wright), and son Joseph.
One day, David boards a train. The train experienced a devastating derailment with an enormous casualty number. David awakes in the hospital to find that he is the sole survivor of the wreck. He is left unscathed.
Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) arrives on the scene as a mysterious comic book expert who takes a liking to David and his experience. He offers a bizarre explanation as to why David escaped without a single scratch that counters Elijah’s health- he is a frail man who is constantly at risk of breaking his bones.
Elijah and Joseph begin to believe that David is a superhero. At first, David rebuffs this notion but slowly begins to realize he has extrasensory perception.
What is the link between David and Elijah?
I’m not always a big superhero fan, and sometimes the storylines are riddled with cliches, stereotypes, and predictability.
But Unbreakable is fascinating and unpredictable. It’s also dark and cerebral, with a surprise ending, leaving me to summarize it as a different sort of superhero film with layers of cool elements.
It’s a non-traditional superhero film, and I love that quality.
There’s a suspension of disbelief, of course. The idea that one character can rig a train accident and other crimes is a bit of a stretch. Still, the characters David and Elijah are compelling enough that I forget those pesky little plot holes and enjoy the experience.
If the story sometimes falters, the riveting train sequence more than makes up for it. We see David quietly enjoying the train ride until all hell breaks loose.
The shattered glass, derailment, and chaos are fabulous entertainment, as well as a source of wonder about what comes next and what the sequence means for the rest of the story.
There are plenty of twists and turns in Unbreakable.
Almost as riveting, though in a different way, is the opening scene of Unbreakable, which will immediately grab the viewer.
It is 1961, and an African American woman is told that her baby’s arms and legs are broken. This is later a key to the story, but at this time, we know not what this intrigue has to do with anything.
Unbreakable (2000) is incredibly fresh and original. It can easily be watched as a double feature with The Sixth Sense, but it is nothing like that film except for its director and actor.
But, they are M. Night Shyamalan’s best films, and Unbreakable provides tremendous thought and conceptualization while creating daring camera work long remembered after the first viewing.
