Unbreakable (2000)

UNBREAKABLE (2000) / *** 1/2

Directed by M Night Shyamalan, from his screenplay. Starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, Robin Wright Penn. Running time: 120 minutes. Rated PG for mature theme by the MFCB. Reviewed on November 29th, 2000.

By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN

After the success of "The Blair Witch Project", there was likely no bigger box office story in 1999 than "The Sixth Sense". Opening quietly in mid-August, writer/director M Night Shyamalan's film gathered enormous momentum and went on to become one of the ten highest-grossing films of all time. It made Shyamalan and co-star Haley Joel Osment household names, and coined one of the year's most popular catchphrases ("I see dead people").

A year later, Shyamalan's highly-anticipated follow-up effort has arrived in theatres. Like "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable" stars Bruce Willis in a movie which contrasts the supernatural with the everyday. But unlike its predecessor -- which was, fundamentally, a ghost story -- "Unbreakable" is not easily categorised. Its paranormal elements are more subdued than in "The Sixth Sense", and Shyamalan maintains an unusually moderate -- even solemn -- tone throughout.

This may disappoint those expecting just another atmospheric thrill ride: "Unbreakable"'s deliberate and erudite style makes for a very different cinematic experience. Even more so than "The Sixth Sense", it demands careful scrutiny to bring it together in the viewer's mind. Both films tease with twist endings, but whereas "The Sixth Sense"'s was cathartic, "Unbreakable"'s is devastating. Indeed, "Unbreakable" is ultimately not as satisfying nor as entertaining as "The Sixth Sense". But it is nonetheless very good in its own way, and stands out as one of the most daringly different major releases this year.

Willis plays David Dunn, a security guard whose relationship with wife Audrey (Robin Wright Penn) and doting son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) is deeply troubled. David's world is thrown into turmoil one day when the train he is riding goes off the rails. David is the sole survivor of the tragedy -- and, more eerily still, he bears no injuries whatsoever. Soon, he starts receiving strange notes: "How many days of your life have you been sick?"

The messenger is be Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson), a comic book gallery owner who suffers from a rare bone disease. Price's skeletal structure is extremely brittle -- even at birth, both his arms and legs were broken. He believes that, if someone so susceptible to harm as himself can come into being, there must therefore exist a person who embodies the reverse -- who is impervious to damage. After years of searching, Elijah has finally found David, who he believes is this unbreakable man.

If "Unbreakable" could be pigeonholed into a category, it would be the super-hero genre. In the lingo of graphic novels, "Unbreakable" constitutes an "origin story", telling how the hero learns about his powers and decides to put them to good use. But this is a very perfunctory description of a film which is, more importantly, a super-hero story transposed onto the real world. Whereas most movies of the genre (such as this year's "X-Men") tend toward flashy, colourful, frenetic narratives, "Unbreakable" dares to ask what would happen if a "super-hero" actually did come into being. The basic axioms of the origin story are all here, but Shyamalan has subverted them delightfully. While the "realistic super-hero story" is not a new concept on the printed page, it is rare to see it examined in such depth on the silver screen.

Shyamalan handles his material well, but not perfectly. Although the almost sepulchral mood of "Unbreakable" is clearly intentional, Shyamalan is not always successful in maintaining viewer interest. There are times when the sombre timbre which pervades the movie goes beyond servicing the carefully-constructed atmosphere, and causes "Unbreakable" to appear simply slow and boring. But, more often than not, Shyamalan's scripting and direction are sufficiently adept that he can establish such an unusual tone and still keep the story rolling.

Unfortunately, in doing so, he virtually reenacts the entire structure of "The Sixth Sense". Like that picture, "Unbreakable" opens with a flashback; features a vital dynamic between Willis and a young boy, who investigate occult phenomena; and slowly unveils the true nature of the protagonist's powers. The picture then takes a detour into a heretofore untapped subplot to establish the character's new status quo, before shocking us with a surprise ending. Certainly, Shyamalan can be forgiven to a certain extent because he has at least managed to envelop this common foundation in a wholly new and different plot. But his adherence to a recycled formula is disappointing all the same.

As in "The Sixth Sense", Willis shows that he possesses genuine acting ability, and has done well to escape the action-movie grind in which he was once trapped. His performance here is perhaps even more remarkable because his character's personality is much like "Unbreakable"'s overall tenor: subdued, elusive, revealed in small touches rather than grand gestures. This makes it difficult for the audience to establish a rapport with David, but Willis largely bridges that gap.

Jackson is given much more colour as Elijah, and he makes the best of it with a wonderfully eccentric performance. Price is the sort of character one can neither fully warm to, nor entirely reject, and Jackson trades expertly on this uncertainty. Although his role is less substantial than Osment's in "The Sixth Sense", Clark does a good job in the no less pivotal role of Joseph, continuing to demonstrate that Shyamalan has a good eye for competent young performers. Similarly, Penn does excellent work in her secondary but vital part. It is through his relationship with Audrey that David's basic humanity and realism are established; without it, "Unbreakable" would have a much more difficult time rising above its four-colour roots.

Note that this should not be taken as an offhand dismissal of comic books; on the contrary, some of the past century's great works have borne word balloons and a six-panel layout. The graphic novel has made great strides in the past twenty-five years in particular: consider everything from Moore and Gibbons' "Watchmen" to Busiek and Ross' "Marvels". "Unbreakable" finally finds a way to effectively translate that evolution to the big screen.

Copyright © 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/Unbreakable.html

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