tedious, monotonous, unsatisfying

Rating: 3/10 (1 December 2000)

unlike many others i was not a big fan of "the sixth sense" (tss), possibly because i had unrealized expectations of the kind of film it would be. subsequently, i went to see "unbreakable" with as few preconceptions as possible, knowing only that the same writer/director and actor from tss would be involved. admittedly, i did expect to see some type of moody, atmospheric supernatural thriller. unbreakable was moody and atmospheric, but did not thrill. while the premise concerning what our roles are in life as illustrated by the hero/villian/comic book angle was promising, the movie failed on a number of levels. yes, the acting was good. yes, it was beautifully shot and mildy thought-provoking, but that was not enough to save it. unbreakable is even slower and more monotonous that tss. fifteen minutes into the movie i wanted to walk out, and i don't recall the last time i had that response when at the theater. the movie took itself too seriously and there seemed to be too many "holes". even worse, there were no sympathetic characters (with the exception of elijah's mother who was seen far too briefly). with both nobody to genuinely like or care about and the plodding pace, i just wanted the movie to be over with and i didn't care what happened.
the climax was a genuine surprise (i didn't see it coming just as i didn't anticipate the "twist" in tss). however, while the ending could possibly have salvaged the movie, it was horribly undone by what amounted to a cop-out text coda, providing an amateurish, "let's wrap it all up" quality.