The anti-action movie

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2000)

First off, those of you expecting 6th Sense 2, go elsewhere. If you thought 6th Sense was worthy of "This Year's Best..." read another review (though it would be strong this year).
It is hard to write a review of this movie w/out giving too much away. Every little detail is crucial, and understated on so many levels. David Dunne plays a security guard who survives a train wreck. Samuel L. Jackson plays Elijah who tries to make him see how he survived the wreck.
"Anti-action movie" is really all you need to summarize the movie. This means that movie is laboriously slow, like M.Night was paid overtime to shoot this movie, and anti-climatic. Not to say that the climax was a let-down (the popular definition); but moreover, that the climax did not raise one out of their seat, yet still pounded them over the head, like a 2 ton weight, with realization, much like the 6th Sense did to most viewers. The details are subtle, though very crucial, only the discerning and the sophisticated will be able to appreciate it. Nonetheless, _Unbreakable_ is very effective in its story-telling, creating a genre all its own. I cannot think of any movie with which _Unbreakable_ can compare.
The biggest problems with the movie is the pace, like I said, and the poor exploration of the climax (i.e the twist - I dislike using that word) in relation to Elijah. It puts too much effort on the viewer to remember those details (especially w/the sleep-inducing pace). _Unbreakable_ could still be effective as the anti-action movie, and anti-climatic, yet still give the viewer "twist." My feeling is that the studio demanded a twist a la 6th Sense, to bring in the audience.
When the movie starts to roll, pay attention to the statistic that it shows the audience. Pay attention not so much to the numbers, but to the hobby it refers to. When Elijah describes that hobby, and why it sells, remember what this movie is about, and how _it_ is reality, where hobby had become fiction describing reality. Also, one more comment: The irony b/t Elijah and David is amazing, classical text book definition. Keep these comments in mind when you watch _Unbreakable_ they will make you appreciate the movie more, I hope.
++ IMDB rating: 8 ++ genre rating: 10 (first of its kind); public rating: 6