The Bone Bros

Rating: 8/10 (3 September 2016)

Well, M. Night's streak of one great movie was, in fact, broken following this.
I know, I know. People cherish The Sixth Sense and Signs, but this was not only by far M. Night Shyamalan's best work, it was his only really good work. (For the record, I thought The Sixth Sense was alright even when I saw the twist 25 minutes into my first viewing and Signs was so- so at best and made me unintentionally laugh out loud many times.)
And I think I am in agreeance with everyone else: beyond The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, the rest of his "films" range from pretty bad to some of the worst "movies" ever made.
But, I digress. Getting back to the film that I found to have just some minor flaws. And let's get those out of the way so I can get back to praising this.
Though it's typical M. Night fashion, the first two acts had some slow- ass scenes. Yes, I understand why – tension, build-up, suspense, whatever, but I found them unnecessary to the rest of the film that flowed very nicely. Also, the film was probably too short for such territory to cover. For example, I would've liked to see a minimum of two more scenes of heroism, the train accident that sets this whole thing in motion wasn't shown (?!) and the ending was abrupt and it would've been nicer to see it than read it. In fact, both the train scene and the finale should've been "Show don't tell." I am uncertain if that was a budgetary concern or a choice. I hope not the latter. And finally, why or how the heck did David NOT realize any of these abilities or strengths up to this point? It felt extremely unlikely he wouldn't have ever put two and two together without a frail male pointing it out so late in life.
Whew! Getting those out of the way, of all the areas I liked: mood, cinematography, score, acting, drive, tension, dialogue and originality, I loved the premise of the film the most. I remember seeing this when it first came out and 16-years later, my opinion stands: this is definitely one of the most adult "comic-book" movies made. (Actually, at the time, I called it thee most adult "comic-book" movie made, but since then, there has been some outstanding real-life kinds of comic-book films.)
David Dunn doesn't just survive two train wrecks (one in this film and the other not being in the remaining M. Night films,) but he walks away without a scratch on him. In what seems to be a trademark with Dunn, he's dumbfounded by this and goes back to his actual broken home life. Luckily for him, the mysterious "Mr. Glass" points out several superhuman aspects of Dunn's life in a series of stalking scenes. Even though Dunn's done with him, he starts to question his own life and purpose.
In the movie, Mr. Glass is a huge comic book collector and expert. He's also the opposite of Dunn. He's the Breakable Man, whereas: you just look at him the wrong way and his bones break. He's intrigued to find someone that has everything he wasn't granted at birth. He truly believes comic book legends, namely the "superhero v archenemy" genre, mirror real life, or vice versa. And though it's coincidence, at least in this movie's universe, I do LOVE the names: David Dunn and Mr. Glass. Just a side-note there as a comic book fan, myself.
Early in M. Night's resume, he couldn't help but put major twists in the closing. Unfortunately, I felt both The Sixth Sense and The Village were ONLY made for the twists, but the two in-between, Unbreakable and Signs, were real movies that happened to have a cherry-on-top in the closing. Of the first four mentioned projects, this was by-far my favorite twist. Upon a second viewing, there were more than enough foretelling of said twist, but that's okay: it was very good beforehand and the ending just made it even better.
I know M. Night hasn't done a sequel yet and in 95% of his projects, that's truly a blessing. But this one was always one I wanted a follow- up to. Unfortunately, it's been 16 years and both Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson aren't getting any younger. It would be too much like the far- too-late Indy films all over again, sadly.
But, since I can't get my wish, I will continue to enjoy this taunt thriller. The one real gem in M. Night's career.
***
Final thoughts: By the way, I love the foreshadowing of Sam Jackson in front of an artwork of Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. I also see the actor playing Dunn's son went on to star in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. T.V. series. Huh.