It's Okay: Slow Movie, Fast and Unexpected Ending

Rating: Null/10 (22 November 2000)

I never saw Sixth Sense. Once I read the script and knew the ending, I didn't want to be tricked by a too-clever plot that seemed based upon the dimwittedness of the moviegoer.
I went to Unbreakable because the storyline seemed fresh, compared to the sludge that Hollywood wants its moviegoers to pay money for, and to that degree, the movie works. Night builds a relationship between comics, the best in us, the worst in us, and the possibility that the worst in one person can help restore the wholeness of somebody else. That, by the end of the movie, is what has happened to the Bruce Willis character. He evolves in his relationships with his wife and his son, he overcomes his own "kryptonite" problem, and he discovers his own inner powers. Also, he clears up a loose end or two in his past. He is more whole than before the train wreck. In this way, the story reminds me of the line that a biochemist in the Tom Cruise movie, MI 2, says. Every great hero needs a great villain.

I can't imagine this film developing the audience that Sixth Sense did. Much of this film is bleak, and I have to think the ending will irritate many. Anytime you have to end a film with captions, the way they used to end episodes of Dragnet with verbal captions ("Mr Ramirez was found guilty of selling ice cream cones to diabetics, and is now serving 6-10 at Robbins State Pen"), you know the plot has a problem. I was completely unprepared for it. When it happens, you are likely to think, "That's it?" It will make sense, but it will feel unsatisfactory.
The film is well-acted. I was impressed by Jackson, because he plays a man that few will like. He's an angry man who does angry things to people. Too many actors won't play such a character. Willis was good, and it was good to see Robin Wright Penn. Spencer Treat Clark was good as the son.

Overall, it's a decent sophmore effort. It's like the second album by a rock group. You know it can't be as good as the original hit (leaving aside the Beatles and a few others). Still, this is a good film.