Some good acting and nice images added to a nice way of story telling make this an interesting movie

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2005)

I sometimes don't understand why people dare to say that M. Night Shyamalan is one of the best of todays directors. I'm not saying he isn't a good one, but what has he proved so far? He has only made six (!!!) movies. OK, some of them were great successes at the box office, but that still doesn't mean that you are a great director (I don't consider movies like for instance "Dumb and Dumber" as masterpieces either, even though they are very popular with a certain audience). And I don't mind admitting that he sure knows how to build up a certain mysterious atmosphere and frightening scenes. But saying that he's one of the greatest directors, just because of that, I will not. At least not until he has made another 15 or 20 great movies...
With "Unbreakable" he has kept one of his traditions alive. He has directed the movie, produced it, has played a little role in it and has written the script for it. This time the story is about an ordinary man who suddenly becomes very special. But the seemingly ordinary and perfectly normal security guard David Dunn is not only the sole survivor of a horrific train-crash that killed 131 people, he didn't even have a scratch on him afterwards. A little later, comic book specialist and art gallery owner Elijah Price, nicknamed "Mr. Glass" due to his more than fragile bones, contacts him to confront him with an incredible theory: he believes that Dunn is his exact opposite, that they both seem to be 'linked by a curve, but sitting on opposite ends'. He's convinced that comic books are what remains of an ancient system of storytelling, that the superheroes they are about, are based on real people and that Dunn is one of these people. At first Dunn doesn't believe him, but as he keeps thinking about it, he finds out that he has never ever been hurt or sick in his life, his physical strength is larger than normal and he has a skill which others don't...
Normally I'm not a fan of movies based on comic books, so I already immediately assumed that I wouldn't like this movie either, just because of the subject. But I'm wrong. This is actually a nice and mysterious thriller with an interesting story and some fine acting. Samuel L. Jackson is very good as Elijah Price, but I guess it is Bruce Willis who surprised me the most. I sure hope to see him more often in this kind of 'serious' roles, instead of in the role of some action hero... The entire movie looks more than OK and I admit that M. Night Shyamalan has done a nice job with it. I hope that he'll make a lot more movies like this one, because I really liked it. I give it a 7.5/10.