"If I go crazy then / will you still call me Superman?"

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2001)

First things first. This is a great movie. You have to be *REALLY* patient with it, as it's a bit slow. You should actually make plans to watch it more than once. The first time to let the story unfold. The second, to actually enjoy it.
It is *not* another "Sixth Sense".
Now "the Sixth Sense" is one of my absolute favorite movies of the past five years. It was oddly moving, had memorable characters, and an absolutely perfect story arc. Best of all was the premise. I have figured out the reason why this is the most popular thriller of all time. It manages to remind us all (well, me at least; I had a wonderfully overactive imagination as a kid) why we still get a little flicker of dread anytime we're alone in a dark room. If you don't, you are deluding yourself.
There is nothing that primal behind the premise of "Unbreakable". I did get the feeling that there *wants* to be a more universal theme there.

You see, and I noticed this more on the second viewing, this is less a story of a guy with a strange secret and more the story of as kid and his father. The idea here was so good, I wish it had been the focus. The moments where this subplot does come to the fore ring the truest (and I'm thinking especially of that beautiful scene towards the end where the father passes the newspaper to his son, the camera pans up, and there is an expression of unmistakable sadness on the father's face).
So give this movie a look. It's really quite good, but there's another even more excellent movie lurking beneath it.