shyamalans finest

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2006)

Now let me start by saying I am not really an M. Night Shyamalan fan. While I respect his skills as an excellent director I have always thought of him as being a Hitchcock wannabe who comes up with a great concept and throws it all away on a wacky twist.
I liked "Sixth Sense" as the film and the twist were superbly crafted, beautifully shot and thought provoking, but as for his other films its another matter. "Signs" for all its skillful setup promised failed to deliver bigtime, with the plausibility of aliens allergic to water invading a planet 80% covered by it as stretched as Gibson's hammy acting. "The Village" for all its Crucible-esquire finery and post 9/11 politics I also found disappointing because not only did i guess the twist fairly early on in the film (I think it was the "forbidden chest" in Sigourney Weaver's house), but the supernatural ambiguity that formed the backbone of the film was removed halfway dispelling any intrigue that I had remaining.
"Unbreakable", however, may be Shyamalan's finest work to date. By posing a simple yet tantalizing question "what if superheroes existed in the real world?" we are drawn in to a truly fascinating film with a mature philosophical subtext.
The protagonist David Dunn (given an alliterative name like all great superhero aliases) is fascinating because he is so ordinary, an everyman whose seemingly pre-ordained purpose is a mystery even to him: is he the messiah? Is he extremely lucky? Or is he a superhero? Asking these questions is Elijah Price, a comic book obsessive cursed with extremely brittle bones seeking to mentor Dunn and make him a hero, believing him and Dunn to be opposites. Enthrallingly played by Samuel L Jackson, Price is a fascinating character and the psychological complexity given to him means when the twist reveals his true motives, the impact is a numbing experience.
The world these two inhabit is no Gotham either, it is the real world in all its sinister glory, the crime David solves, not an unhinged pantomime supervillain but a rapist and murderer; Superman this ain't.
overall, this film is almost an exploration of what it means to be human, psychologically, existentially and philosophically and seems to conclude what David Bowie has all along: "We can be heroes, just for one day".
5/5