Miraculously Unharmed.......

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2012)

David Dunn's marriage is crumbling, and he's thinking of moving to New York. Then when he's coming home from a job interview, his train derails and he is the only survivor.
More than that, he doesn't have a scratch on him.
David is contacted by Elijah Price, who runs a comic book art gallery and suffers from a genetic condition that makes his bones very easy to break.
Elijah has been a comic book fan all his life, and has developed a theory that they are what remains of an ancient system of storytelling, and the superheroes they are about are based on real people.
Elijah believes David may be one of these people. He has hardly ever been injured or sick, and he has tremendous strength, plus an uncanny ability to tell if someone is about to or has done something bad.
David doesn't know what to think about the theory, or Elijah himself. However, events soon conspire to convince him he may be a superhero after all.....
The first thing that you must recognise with this movie is the fact that the film relies heavily on comic book mythology. Like many superheroes, the main characters ('the hero') name begin with the same letters (as in Matt Murdock, Peter Parker) and he is always wearing green throughout the film.
The same can be said for Elijah, He wears purple throughout and has a nickname (asin Dr Doom, or The Joker).
The film works on so many levels, but reading the summary, you really think it shouldn't. Bruce Willis as a superhero? But this is one of his greatest performances, even better than The Sixth Sense, as he doesn't over do the David Dunn stuff, he almost plays the role without emotion.
Shyalaman has made another great movie, relying on the viewer to catch things that are not written down for you (eg. The blood on the sheet getting bigger in the hospital before Dunn is discharged), and also the movie is very funny in places too.
The relationship between Dunn and his son is concentrated the most, and the addition of the 'miracle' just brings the two closer. The father son part is the heart of the film and gives the movie emotional impact.
Jackson too plays it low key in his role, and he dresses and has hair like a bad guy from a blaxploitation movie from the seventies, which may have been intentional on Shyalamans behalf.
The soundtrack is awesome and really stands out when Dunn is touching people in the station. It has a steady mix of scares, laughs and some very tense sequences involving the two leads.
The ending isn't quite as shocking as TSS, but it delivers and wraps up the film nicely.
A great antidote to the Spidermans and Batmans of this world.