An interesting premise, but missing something.

Rating: 6/10 (26 June 2001)

This movie has a very interesting beginning: a man (Bruce Willis) survives a train wreck without a scratch. It turns out there are other curiosities about this man, and we get caught up in a mystery that takes some unexpected turns. Where the mystery ends up, I won't reveal, since that would spoil the plot -- I will say that it ends up in a very interesting place.

However, that said, I have a number of problems with the execution of the movie. First of all, I didn't care for the directing style at all. Many of the scenes felt needlessly "gimmicked" or "obfuscated." For instance, there was one scene where two characters are sitting in front of a TV talking to each other. Instead of seeing the characters directly, we see their reflections in the TV screen. I'm sure there's an artistic explanation for why he did that, but it felt goofy and pretentious to me -- like the director was trying too hard to do something "different." In another scene, we see about 60 seconds of activity through billowing curtains from outside the room. Most of what you see is the curtains, with only glimpses of what is going on inside. Again, I'm sure it appealed to the "artistic" crowd, but I found it annoying and artificial. I've always felt that true artistry should not call attention to itself -- you shouldn't notice it until you watch the film a second or even third time. So the director was too "present" in how the scene was played out.
Second, and much worse, many of the scenes were lethargic and slow. Long pauses were taken between the actors' lines -- far longer than required for a dramatic pause, far to frequently. Things felt "slow" through the entire movie. It was interesting in terms of the overall plot line, but the many of the individual scenes were utterly boring. I saw this movie for the first time on DVD (not in the theater), and more than once I almost reached for the remote and hit the "fast forward" button. I will say, it was interesting enough that I didn't actually hit the button; but the fact that I eyed the remote at least 5 different times speaks volumes. If it were a truly riveting movie, I wouldn't have been able to tell you where the remote *was*.
Finally, while I won't reveal the ending or what happens in the climax, I will say it felt like not enough happened. After the movie was over, I said out loud to myself, "That's it?" It felt incomplete to me. Not in the way that screams "sequel," because things are wrapped up, but the way in which they were wrapped up felt too quick. The way the general plot was structured, if you had read a 1-page treatment of the movie, you'd have said, "Wow! I bet this final scene will be packed with power and emotion." While it was surprising, it was not powerful or emotional. It was rather slow and stale, which, sadly, is how the entire rest of the movie felt.
Ultimately, Unbreakable was intellectually interesting, but emotionally empty. The performances were wooden. None of the characters really moved me or made me like them. It felt like everyone from the director to the actors to the cinematographer, could have used some caffeine or perhaps some energy bars -- the entire production lacked "energy." Unbreakable's probably worth seeing once, but if you don't see it, you haven't missed much -- and it's certainly not worth seeing more than once.
My score: 6/10