Unbreakable
(2000, M Night Shyamalan)
Average Contributor Rating:

Written By: M Night Shyamalan.
Directed By: M Night Shyamalan.
Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy.
Selected Cast: Bruce Willis (David Dunn), Samuel L Jackson (Elijah Price), Robin Wright Penn (Audrey Dunn).

Before M Night Shyamalan’s dreadful six or seven years of god-awful movies (the Happening, the Village, Signs, et al), he delivered a one-two punch that marked him out as a talent to watch in commercial Hollywood. I’m not claiming the Sixth Sense to be any sort of masterpiece (in fact, it’s just okay, and a solid 6/10), but it’s most certainly better than his later work and an impressive debut. It was stylistic, moody and had a presence unseen by many debut pictures of the 1990s, and even if it didn’t live up to re-watches (which is what detracts from it mostly) the twist was still knock-out at the time. However, he took this solid base and impressed with his sophomore picture, the story of David Dunn (Bruce Willis) who survives a train crash which kills everyone else present. He leaves unscathed, prompting the interest of his opposite, Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson). Price has brittle bones, leading to him becoming known as ‘the glass man’. Price explains to Dunn that he believes that David has super powers, and is resilient to pain. Recalling that he has never had a day off work and has never been ill, Dunn begins to believe, testing out the limits of his skill... The best moments of the film are the early ones, as Dunn begins to recognise his powers or as Price pries into his private life in an attempt to have him embrace the ability. Willis is reclusive, but his lack of emotion somehow makes his performance all-the-more emotive. What turned this man into the recluse that he is? The answer is his wife, Robin Wright Penn, in the most disappointing strand of plot (it’s underdeveloped and no one cares about it). Jackson is odd to say the least, but has a strange charm about him that makes him approaches to Dunn’s family unnerving. Living vicariously through David, almost as if Dunn is living for the both of them, Jackson gets an odd rush from seeing his opposite rise to the top. And, in true Shyamalan fashion, the twist at the end is a gimmicky way of explaining the events that went before. However, Unbreakable’s charm is how much it blindsides you. There is no way that I could have seen it coming, and it’s carried out in a simple, no strings attached manner. And maybe that is where Shyamalan has gone wrong in recent years, gaining a lust for grandeur that just doesn’t suit him. . JB.
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