A different kind of super hero film

Rating: 9/10 (27 February 2018)

Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan wisely eschews big splashy special effects and elaborate action set pieces in order to bring a more low-key, thoughtful, and even melancholy sensibility to the concept of the super hero.
Average blue collar security guard David Dunn (a strong and subdued performance by Bruce Willis) miraculously survives a train wreck that kills everyone else on board. David is encouraged by physically frail, but extremely persistent and fiercely intelligent comic book aficionado Elijah Price (superbly played with sharp wit and quiet intensity by Samuel Jackson) to question exactly why he didn't perish in said disaster.
Shyamalan grounds the inspired and intriguing story in a plausibly drab and gloomy everyday working class reality. Moreover, Shyamalan uses the fantastic premise to smartly explore the provocative themes of realizing one's heretofore untapped full potential, the need to know precisely why you were put on this earth, the burdensome responsibility those endowed with special abilities have to use those powers for good, and how the forces of good and evil tend to be total physical and spiritual opposites. Willis and Jackson do sterling work in the lead roles; they receive sturdy support from Robin Wright as David's estranged wife Audrey, Spencer Trent Clark as David's awestruck son Joseph, and Chance Kelly as a train station custodian who does home invasions on the side. Kudos are also in order for Eduardo Serra's sumptuous widescreen cinematography and James Newton Howard's majestic orchestral score. An excellent movie.