shyamalan got me again

Rating: 9/10 (1 December 2000)

That this is the second straight collaboration between writer/director Shyamalan and Bruce Willis isn't as interesting to me as this: `Unbreakable' is the third film starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. The three films and six roles played couldn't be more different.
The first is of course, `Pulp Fiction,' a film that launched Jackson to superstardom and re-ignited Willis' career. They play two of the film's main characters, a boxer in a rigged fight and a hit-man who finds spirituality. They have one scene together but even then they never say a word to each other. The two characters have a strange connection though. It's one of those between-the-lines kinds of things that you only notice if you've seen a film as many times as I've seen `PF.' Both performances are arguably their best.
Next is `Die Hard With a Vengeance,' which cast Willis as New York cop John McClain again, with Jackson as his reluctant sidekick, Zues. I like the movie but I can never figure out quite why Jackson's character is there other than to give McClain someone to talk to. Nevertheless, the two are in most of their scenes together. For some reason the franchise turns its back on the whole one-man-against-an-army concept of the first two films and turns the third into a buddy movie.
Five years later, both men's careers are still sizzling. `Unbreakable' will do nothing to hurt either. I never once thought of Jules Winfield or Butch Coolidge, John McClain or Zeus Carver. Again, the two play completely different characters from any they've played before. Willis plays David Dunn, a guy who can't remember the last time he was sick, broke a bone, or even got a paper cut. He's just survived a train wreck that no one else survived. Not only that, he walked away without a scratch. Jackson plays Elijah Price, a man who would seem to be David's exact opposite. Elijah has a degenerative bone disease that makes them very brittle and easy to break. Elijah has a few hobbies. One is collecting rare comic book art and studying it. Another is finding his exact opposite. He believes that if someone like him can exist, someone who breaks very easily, then why shouldn't someone exist who can't be broken?
Let's get one thing out of the way before I go on: Shyamalan is a genius. To have conceived, written and pulled a project the caliber of `Unbreakable' together in the short time between completing `Sixth Sense' and now is incredible. No sophomore slump here. `Unbreakable' will stick to your bones like turkey and mashed potatoes.
Unlike `Sixth Sense,' the director takes a few minor missteps here. These are technical faults that can be attributed to having to work on more of a deadline than the last time. Just because his last film was perfect doesn't mean he's infallible. It isn't perfect, but `Unbreakable' is definitely a success.
Anyone who saw `Sixth Sense' will recognize Shyamalan's filmmaking style here. The pacing is the same. He again unfolds the story slowly. `Unbreakable' doesn't build to quite the crescendo that `SS' does, but you can see an unmistakably similar formula at work. Each auteur has his/her own.
Shyamalan's gift seems to be laying out the clues for those perceptive enough to see them. If you just sit back and enjoy, you'll be surprised at the end. Your jaw will hit the floor with almost as much velocity as it did in `SS.' The more perceptive though, will pick up on the clues and won't be fooled. I was fooled. Again. But that's what makes it so much fun.
Grade: A-