Unbreakable (2000)

Just over a year after the runaway success of his previous effort, The Sixth Sense, Oscar-nominated writer/director M. Night Shyamalan decided to follow it up with this genuinely unique thriller which had decent reviews and solid box office but was considered a bit of a disappointment mainly because the story was not at all what many audiences expected.  However over time, it developed enough of a following that the filmmaker evetually decided to make a proper sequel.  This is the strange tale of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a mild-mannered security officer who has just survived a horrific train crash.  No one really understands why or how he was the ONLY survivor of an incident which resulted in the deaths of every one else on board, except......one eccentric comic book art collected/store owner named Elijah Price (Samuel) who might have a theory.  Their lives become intertwined and what results is a genuinely original tale of good and evil. 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

UNBREAKABLE - 2000

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard, Eamonn Walker, Leslie Stefanson, Johnny Hiram Jamison, Michaelia Carroll, Bostin Christopher, Elizabeth Lawrence, Chance Kelly, and M. Night Shyamalan

Genre: Supernatural Thriller (Audio clip)

This is one seriously nutty movie....and I love it for just about every bizarre choice M. Night makes in telling this story. It's basically spinning dueling origin stories for both a superhero (Bruce Willis' David) and a super-villain (Samuel L Jackson's Elijah) at the same time...in a world so to speak. Not the real world mind you nor is it within a heightened comic book world....no this all of takes place within Night's fantastical world of Philadelphia. :) (I don't think Rocky Balboa exists in this world either unfortunately) A world where people of all ages young and old often do AND say inexplicably strange things, but always QUIETLY.

It's a world where a young boy (Spencer Treat Clark) in awe of his father (Willis' David) points a gun at his father in their kitchen to hopefully demonstrate his powers. It's a world where as a young man, that SAME father is able to walk away from a brutal car accident uninjured and yet is able to convince every one around him - doctors included - that he is severely injured for years to come so that he no longer has to play sports. It's a world where one VERY distinct-looking tall man (Jackson's Elijah) with distinct hair wearing ALL purple clothes and sporting a glass cane is able to easily amble around three public areas JUST before three major explosions/accidents occur resulting in mass casualties before returning to his open office where schematics of each incident are on full display.....and NOBODY notices nor suspects him. 🙄 

It's a crazy world where water can be a key weakness....except when it's pouring down you via rainfall. And most importantly, it's a nutty world where a family is invaded by a psycho janitor who takes over their home for several days killing both father and mother brutally....the kids escape thanks to help from an anonymous stranger, leaving behind three corpses and a trashed home....and when the local newspapers first get wind of it, their headline for the first story is "SAVED." 😆

None of this should work on paper as a cohesive story and yet it all generally does thanks to assured direction, sublime performances, a slight sense of whimsy, and a continuously inventive camera (DP Eduardo Serra), and overall a deceptively straightforward and simple story. It all basically comes down to two middle-aged men finally figuring out who they are.....and the lengths they are willing to go to...to figure this out. Willis is genuinely good here, mostly underplaying but also gradually acknowledging AND accepting the absurd situation he finds himself in. And Samuel L is even better delivering what MIGHT be his quietest performance as "Mr Glass" who we have to watch endure great pain as his brittle bones shatter taking a nasty spill down a subway stair entrance.....even as we can also revel in the brief beaming smile he gives off once he sees what he needs to see at the bottom of those stairs. 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

One of M. Night’s more regular collaborators – LA’s own NINE-time Oscar-nominated composer James Newton Howard – returns to compose the score for this film and it’s very good, albeit a BIT dated.  Moody, suspenseful, and at points even a bit propulsive….which is where the dated portion comes.  You see most of the score is basic orchestra with soaring strings….but during ONE key sequence about 70 minutes into the film, when David FIRST really samples his actual powers at the train station.  He just stands in the middle of an open concourse with his hands spread just slightly on each side…..and as strangers start to graze him, he starts seeing visions of them doing some genuinely despicable things. (Audio clip) 

One of those visions shows a brutal man who invades the home of a family and takes them hostage….then David glances to see who it came from, it’s the large, intimidating custodian wearing all orange.  And this sets him off on his FIRST official mission.  Now look, this sequence is a genuine swing on Night’s part into the supernatural and I think what helps it land as well as it does is the score….which includes mid-tempo beats kicking in as if this was some world-music song from the ‘90’s.  Some might find it distracting but I like it….not only is it catchy but it helps nail what is a pretty seismic shift in the plot as not only is David having premonitions but he’s now acting on them.  This track is fittingly called, “Visions.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

SPOILER ALERT for other movies not reviewed here….

Ok as far as I’m concerned…..even amongst a now current glut of superhero material out there, this movie still holds up.  It’s almost a throwback to a simpler time when superheroes would occasionally headline a new movie but the superheroes and villains – their primary existence within comic books – that was still a pretty novel thing.  That’s part of what makes it works SO well even upon repeat viewings now knowing THE twist….it’s just engaging and fun to watch these two characters figure out who they are even if what they are defies reality. 

And I can remember for years after it came out, I would talk with friends and/or fellow cinephiles about this movie: “Man it would be SO cool if M Night made a SEQUEL to Unbreakable….it was the perfect set-up to continue that story of David Dunn taking on Mr. Glass!”  And for years after this, M would speak coyly about whether he was actually developing a sequel…..and then in 2017 came his surprise blockbuster thriller Split….the movie overall, I was kind of mixed on it even though I found James McAvoy’s performance pretty entertaining.  But that ending…. (Audio clip) 

It's a clever ending, not only bringing THAT movie into the same world as Unbreakable but also possibly setting up a REAL full-on sequel?  You bet and we got that sequel a couple of years later….it was called GLASS, not only bringing back Bruce Willis’ David character but also yes Sam Jackson’s Mr. Glass.  And…..it was pretty lame, sorry just an overall underwhelming movie with a weak conclusion no less.  Fortunately since then, M. Night has returned to mostly original, stand-alone idiosyncratic high-concept horror/mystery thrillers including previous episodes Old, Knock at the Cabin, and last year’s Trap.  Bottom line, I would have been perfectly fine if M. Night just let this particular saga end with THIS movie. (Audio clip)

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

This briskly placed sorta-supernatural thriller takes no shortage of strange turns even as it's often laboring (successfully) to find unique, new ways to present them to you! One of my personal favorite examples of this shows up early on as the image of blood spreading through gauze at the bottom of the frame provides foreground for an ominous conversation David is having with an E/R doctor about his "condition." M. Night clearly just relishes showing off his relatively (at the time) untested directorial chops and it WORKS towards spinning an interesting yarn! 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Like I have said, there are strange turns and plot holes galore if you're looking for them but if you're on his wavelength and still enjoying most of the choices he makes as writer and director then you just mind find this to be your favorite M Night joint as I do. :) For delivering what I believe is STILL his best film overall, M. Night Shyamalan is the MVP. 

Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Bottom line, this movie did superheroes and supervillains before it became cool.  Happy 25th Anniversary to one of the most enjoyable on-screen original stories ever spun! 

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