When Shyamalan was good

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2010)

It is fair to say that M. Night Shyamalan has been going down hill for a long time. Non of his films has matched The Sixth Scene's quality and slowly his writing has become worst. He has made 3 flops in a row, Lady in the Water, The Happening and The Last Airbender. But after making The Sixth Sense he had the world as his feet, he was touted as a potential director for Harry Potter and he was allow to make his dream project, Unbreakable.
David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is a Philadelphia security guy and when returning from a job interview was in a horrific train clash. He was the only survive and even more miraculous David was unharmed. David ends up being very confused by why he survived and added to mix is his dissolving marriage with Audrey (Robin Wright Penn) and strain relationship with his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark). A comic book collector Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), suffering from osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) believes that David is a real life superhero and that comic-book as a visual median were originally based on real people and just manipulated over time. Elijah tires to convince David that there is something more to his life and try and become a real life superhero despite David's scepticism.
As stated Shyamalan had a lot of good will behind him after The Sixth Sense, which allowed him to make this project. With Unbreakable he was able to create a good supernatural thriller in the real world; this is not your traditional superhero film. It was shot very much like The Sixth Sense, with Shyamalan skillful using a lot of single shots, long takes with the camera moving during the scene and adding to the intense, tight feeling of Unbreakable. It was dark, moody and slowly building up throughout the film. There are excellent scene like when Joseph points a gun at David to prove that he had supernatural powers. This is a film trying to set the idea of a real-life superhero, this is not like Spider-man where he gets new powers and practices and makes a costume or Batman where he has to train himself and have a range of gadgets or X-Men where the world is filled with people with powers. David has to slowly discovery the secret about himself and give himself a purpose in live. There was able a good amount of comic book reference and talk throughout the film and of course there is a lot of iconography in comic book art, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to think someone would believe that comic books are based on real people. Shyamalan only shows one fight scene but it was a well constructed scene, with the camera up in the corner of the room and just keeps it there. It was a well executed scene. The dialogue was strong and Unbreakable has a very interesting plot and idea. But there are some plot inconsistencies which affect the film, like how David starts to develop his instinct powers.
Willis and Jackson have worked together before in Pulp Fiction (even though didn't have a scene together) and Die Hard with Vengeance, and again there have excellent chemistry. I personally believe that Willis is a very talented actor, the best out of all the action stars of his era and with Unbreakable he gives a very powerful performance. He play the role with real conviction and was real in his performance. Jackson is one of the coolest actors around and too was a good as Elijah, but there were the occasional moment of over acting, like when he shoots at a customer. But of course when Jackson is on form he is amazing. I can see that Shyamlan was trying to find another Haley Joel Osment when he cast Clark, but he was not quite as good as Osment was in the Sixth Sense. Wright Penn was also good throughout the film and show she is a talented actress as a woman trying to keep her marriage going.
I love the idea of trying to make a more realistic superhero film and Shyamalan was able to a make a good thriller. It's a shame that he is one a mission to destroy his own career because he can direct some really good set piece and he needs to make more smaller thrillers.