#60-C: UNBREAKABLE (2000)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, but only once and pretty recently; I think I may have seen Split before Unbreakable

BEST SEQUENCE

There's something effectively understated about the weightlifting scene, and also the gun scene

BEST LINE

"You didn't break one bone. You don't have a scratch on you."

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

70%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"With a weaker ending, Unbreakable is not as a good as The Sixth Sense. However, it is a quietly suspenseful film that intrigues and engages, taking the audience through unpredictable twists and turns along the way."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A man learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident."

DIRECTOR

M. Night Shyamalan

MAIN CAST

Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard

THOUGHTS

• Unbreakable is a better movie than my score of 7.5 might suggest, but it's really not actually all that thrilling. It's methodical and it's patient, and one might even call it slow. It's more interested in exploring the ideas it puts forth rather than using those ideas to justify some whiz-bang action sequences
• In fact, Unbreakable might be of most interest for some people as a very early, somewhat alternative superhero movie (because yes, spoiler alert, Bruce Willis's David Dunn has superpowers). Compared to more mainstream superhero movies, especially what we've been seeing for the last 15 years, the stakes in Unbreakable are much smaller; more intimate, in a way. David Dunn isn't trying to save the world, or even the city of Philadelphia. Once he knows how to use his powers we really just see him save one family. However, this gives his climactic mission an effective realness, a grim relatability that makes us care more about whether or not he succeeds. He's putting himself up against real, authentic evil in humanity, not megalomaniacal grandstanding as seen in so many other superhero movies
• David is also effectively humanized; he's not outwardly or obviously heroic. The first thing we see him do is take off his wedding ring to flirt with a woman, at which he strikes out. His marriage is on the rocks, and he's concerned about a job interview not going well - pretty standard, unexciting issues for a person to have. In fact, as the protagonist of the movie his greatest victory might be the rekindling of his marriage and gaining the admiration of his son
• Again Bruce Willis is quite good in this, giving a very natural performance. This feels like a good time to say, after the announcement of his recent health problems (and likely end to his career), I'm a big fan. We'll be talking about him two more times I believe, and the next time isn't too far away (Pulp Fiction, movie #53), but even just his performances in the Die Hard franchise would firmly place him in the action movie pantheon
• Also to be talked about again soon, Samuel L. Jackson is good in this, but he's mostly used as a plot device and a way for M. Night to explain things. He does manage to give a pretty good performance despite getting some of the clunkier lines in the script
• Lastly, as mentioned above, I have seen Split and I've also seen Glass. Saw them both in the theatre, and not again since. I won't be reviewing either of them, but for what it's worth, Split I liked a lot and I thought James McAvoy was tremendous. Glass, on the other hand, I found disappointing. Feel free to sound off in the comments if you want to make a case for or against either of these movies (and Unbreakable too, of course)

Up next: I think it's safe to say that, for many, this was when M. Night started to wobble, if not jumped the rails outright. But hey, The Village still has its defenders, so we'll be talking about it!