A confirmation of Shyamalan's exceptional talent.

Rating: 9/10 (27 March 2008)

'Unbreakable' is an M. Night Shyamalan (37) film, the born in India, raised in Philadelphia director/scenarist who, back in 1999, scored a world hit totally out of the blue with the marvelous lo fi-horror film 'The Sixth Sense'. And I'm pretty sure about it now, the M stands for magnificent. There are a lot of red threads running through his films; they're all spellbound fairy tales, always beautifully visualized and injected with a religious-philosophical message and the most prominent feature: a trademark plot twist that'll drop your jaw like a drafty shed door during a heavy thunderstorm.
His films are so very intelligently written; they never are what they appear to be at first sight. 'The Village' has the look of a mystery/horror but peel away that first layer and what you get is actually a quite beautiful love story. Less skilled directors would've surely taken Unbreakable's premise and cheapened it to action-movie formulary banality but Shymalan carefully shapes it into an impressive character-drama. Contrary to popular opinion, his work does not rely solely on spectacular plot twists. In fact most of his movies are just as good without the end twist. But it is the cherry on top. Shyamalan reminds me of Fincher in that perspective even though Fincher's movies are still a class higher obviously.
'Unbreakable' is definitely the one in Shyamalan's oeuvre that shares the most elements with 'The Sixth Sense': the same lead actor (Bruce Willis), the same down-putting atmosphere, again a supernatural story,and again a late surprising plot twist. Some folks will, for that reason, undoubtedly claim that Shyamalan just repeated his success hit, but that statement is about as absurd as 'Pulp Fiction' allegedly being a watered down version of 'Reservoir Dogs'. 'Unbreakable' is on the contrary a mighty confirmation of Shyamalan's exceptional skill.
To reveal much of the story is forbidden. An again very timidly acting Willis portrays David Dunn, a somewhat troubled security guard who solely - and without a scratch or bruise - survives a horrible train wreck. The commencement is not unlike 'Fearless' (where Jeff Bridges walks away unharmed from a plane crash), but from the moment Samuel L. Jackson's character is introduced - as the mysterious man who has a very peculiar explanation for David's alleged unbreakable ability - 'Unbreakable' sails in a totally different, more supernatural, direction. The plot itself barely rises above the better-than-average comic book actually, but visually 'Unbreakable' has a lot in common with the looks of an European art-film: just like in 'The Sixth Sense' Shyamalan refrains from showy action, stunts or effects - we're even denied the train crash - but he spellbinds the audience with unusually long, uncut scenes, a dark color pallet, and a unconventionally slow pace, - all very un-Hollywoodian means that provide 'Unbreakable' with the allure of a metaphysic perilous-predestination drama. If Ingmar Bergman would have directed 'X-men', than this is about the result we'd get (the dispiriting confrontations between David and his other half wouldn't be misplaced in Bergmans' 'Scenes from a Marriage' nota bene).
And even though Shyamalan's scenario is glitched this time around (it's rather unbelievable that David can't remember whether he's ever fallen ill)), I still can't be anything else than deeply impressed by his mastership: when David hangs up his guard jacket (brilliant scene!) you realize in a flash that the cineaste has always stayed one step ahead of you, that every detail checks out and all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place majestically. Unbreakable class!