Eastrail177: Unbreakable

Rating: 9/10 (26 March 2020)

Unbreakable, directed, produced & written by Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan, aka M. Night, is one of the most underrated, unorthodox, super hero origin stories out today. Coming off his best movie (at that time) in The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan decided to embrace the up and coming comic book movie genre, by creating his own take on it. Shyamalan did a great job directing this piece, utilizing a lot of great one shot-long takes, while adding everything he thought was necessary. He told such a brilliantly focused story, peeling back the layers one at a time, backed up with tremendous detail, that got me invested into everything and everyone. I just watched this movie on Monday, but I watched it again today (Thursday) just because it has such tremendous rewatch value, that only makes you appreciate it more and more, everytime you watch it!
I'm particularly not the biggest Bruce Willis fan, but I thought he did a very good job here. For once, he's very subtle, but the confusion & pain aspect he brings in, makes his character so genuine, and easy to care about. His character development was just the icing on the cake, making it extremely easy to root for him, after discovering everything we need to know about him. Samuel L. Jackson in this subtle, reserved role, worked out just as well. You just care for the guy so much, and you whole heartily felt the pain he goes through. He wasn't always present in the film, but everything was facilitated through him. Robin Wright Penn was just okay. I really didn't care for her performance all that much, being nothing more than a plot device. Spenser Treat Clark was the real compliment to the family. Clark put on a very good performance at such a young age, displaying great emotions.
The script was very powerful all in it's own. With the few long take scenes, that's when Shyamalan took the advantage of utilizing his witty dialogue, making it pop. Surprisingly, Shyamalan added a few solid laughs here and there, that kept the film from being too serious.
James Newton Howard is a genius with the score. Throughout the whole film, and mainly the last act, he really drags you in, with this deep, somber & suspenseful score.
Overall, this was my first M. Night Shyamalan film, and I was blown away by his style! I will be sure to review as much work of his as possible.