Great thriller let down by a weak story - 57%

Rating: 5/10 (5 May 2005)

Having had both "The Sixth Sense" and "The Village" ruined for me by various people telling me the famous Shyamalan twist, I was left to watch this uninterrupted and unspoiled. By pure chance, it is also the only M Night Shyamalan film I have any interest in watching (the less said about "Signs", the better) so I snapped up the DVD without too much debate.
Hardly any wonder to find the star of "Sixth Sense", Bruce Willis, back but this time as David Dunn, a former college football star and now married to his childhood sweetheart Audrey (Robin Wright Penn) and father to Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark). But David is not happy. His marriage is failing and his dead-end security job is getting him nowhere. Then one day, his life is flipped upside down after a major train crash. David is the only survivor - indeed, he walks away completely unscathed. Shortly afterwards, he is contacted by eccentric comic collector Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson) who believes that David may have incredible powers. Initially sceptical, David is eventually forced to confront Elijah's theories and ask himself some difficult, repressed questions about himself.
There is quite a lot not to like about this film. Obsessive comic book fans will probably not like the performance of a big wigged Jackson, wide-eyed stare and grandiose dialogue. Willis does his whispering trick again like he did in "Sixth Sense" and sadly can't portray the emotional turmoil needed for a character like David. Much better are Clark and Penn as David's son and wife, both of whom find themselves questioning David as much as themselves. But the biggest let-down is the story which I found disappointing and not anything like as original as "Sixth Sense". But the atmosphere and tension are built up well and the obligatory twist at the end is well written and well disguised. But at no stage did I ever find myself believing this film and anyone looking for a metaphorical meaning will be disappointed as Shyamalan states from the beginning that this is about comics. I suppose one could say that the film teaches us all to be heroes in our own way but I don't think Shyamalan tells fables, only stories.
However, perseverance is the key here. "Unbreakable" never fully hits its stride until the end but when it does, it proves a terrifically tense thriller full of the quasi-supernatural imagery that Shyamalan loves. Willis' hooded poncho standing in the rain makes our hero look like Death himself and I truly respect Shyamalan's ability to show the everyday as being full of symbolism and myth. It's such a shame that the story couldn't be slightly stronger because there is a great film here somewhere and it deserves to be given a chance. It was never going to be another "Sixth Sense" and disappointing box office returns scuppered plans for an obvious sequel. After all, the best comic book films usually have much more mileage than studio bosses allow. One needs only to look at the "Spiderman" or "X-Men" franchises to see how far they can run. "Unbreakable" could have been one of them but falls just short.