10/10

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2004)

I've rated about 350 movies on IMDb so far, and I've only given a perfect 10/10 rating for about 15 movies. Unbreakable is one of those 15 films. This film is, in my opinion, better than both Signs and The Six Sense. The ending is quite surprising. The part where Bruce Willis's character falls into the pool is well shot (note the sinister contrast between black and red). At the beginning, Bruce talks to the woman sitting next to him and the camera captures the whole thing through a space between two seats. This scene was extremely entertaining and stylish. The themes and perhaps the characterization was lacking...the plot was fairly good...but what makes this film really great is the subtle build-up, the setting of mood with slow camera movements, the lighting, dark colors, etc.
Some people here have complained that the movie is too slow. That's an okay point. I used to think many movies were slow when I was younger, but then I started doing something that fixed the problem. I simply concentrated on the dialog and tried hard to understand what the characters were saying, why they said it, how it related to any themes, etc. I don't simply tune out when characters start talking and tune back in again when the action starts.
Bruce's character is able to see other people's pasts by touching them. In one remarkable scene he is standing in a train station, touching people as they walk past, looking at the dark secrets they hide.
The film deals with heroes and villains, the types you find in comic books as well as virtually all movies and books (virtually every film has a hero). People would like to believe that heroes exist in real life, that heroism in the form of extreme talent is endowed on certain people. Does the concept of good versus bad apply to real life or does it just exist in fiction? Do we have to force the good versus bad concept to the real world to try make the real world more entertaining and meaningful to us?
10/10