Now I know what I didn't like about Unbreakable

Rating: Null/10 (11 January 2003)

Watching this movie made it clear to me what it was about Unbreakable that bothered me.
As with Unbreakable, I was anxious to see this movie and had high expectations for both of them. My anticipation was kept alive throughout both movies through the entire thing, until the end, at which point I found myself saying "Oh, is that it?"
I don't think the problem is with the movie itself, or the plot, or the characters or even the acting. All of the above are great. I think there is something in the director's style that creates some melodramatic intensity, a severe, serious tone throughout, through the use of silence, scoring, and visual cues that tell you "something BIG is about to happen."

Something BIG either never happens, or when it does, it's not quite as big as you were expecting. Once the movie is over, you don't feel a sense of disappointment in the movie, but rather think "Did I miss something?"

Even though Mr. Shyamalan is addressing "serious" things in his movies, it appears to me that his movies take themselves TOO seriously. The humor he injects isn't even for levity - it's used as a contrast device to make everything else seem that much more serious.
Suspense? I felt myself not so much in suspense as just annoyed. The line between the two is blurry in this film. Your attention is purposely directed away from the action at key moments, for no real reason other than to keep you in the dark and "on the edge." As far as creating suspense goes I think this is cheating. If you're going to direct my attention elsewhere, please direct it towards something vital to the story.

I feel even more conflicted, because it's not that Night is not a good director, in fact he may be TOO good. He's like an author that gets his point across halfway through the book, but continues to try and prove a point that you already understand. This movie has great themes, important issues, great symbolism, and dialogue that would also be great if it, like the movie, did not take itself too seriously.