Its clever but not groundbreaking. After The Sixth Sense, keep your hopes low.

Rating: 6/10 (23 September 2015)

Unbreakable is a fresh take on superhero films, long before Christopher Nolan produced the best and most grounded traditional superhero film to date. It never strays beyond the realms of believability, and is an altogether well constructed film.
Samuel L. Jackson is incredible as Elijah Pryce, a man with brittle bones who struggles to find his purpose in life. Through only two or three scenes, Shyamalan and Jackson create a character we can know intimately. It becomes very clear that certain moments in Elijah's life have drastically altered his personality. For a man with one of the most commanding presences in Hollywood history, Jackson plays Elijah with shades of hysteria, patheticness and crushed self-esteem.
The same can't be said for Willis, who really sleepwalks throughout the movie. Only in two scenes does Willis actually mine his talent pool to produce anything special. It really sets the movie back when watching Jackson and Robin Wright (also excellent) act their hearts out only for Willis to soberly nod in reply. Spencer Treat Clark was adequate, but after Haley Joel Osment's career-making turn in the previous Shyamafilm, Clark couldn't fill those shoes.
Shyamalan's direction is the film's greatest asset. Long takes, highlights on colour, and some incredible cinematography in the film's climactic scene are just some highlights. During one of the opening scenes, while Dunn is in the hospital and a doctor checks him over, a bleeding on the nearby patient oozes slowly and then quickly throughout to highlight the drama of the scene. In addition to some thrilling scenes, there's at least one dramatic scene involving a showdown in the Dunn family kitchen that was superbly written, directed and constructed.
The twist ending was a bit disappointing to me. I felt it was far less subtle than its predecessor and it doesn't change the whole film experience but at the same time I found it believable and very much in keeping with the foreshadowing and superhero theme. The reveal then cuts to white text explanation, which was probably the worst part, as the film ends not with a bang but a whimper.
Samuel L. Jackson's powerful performance and M. Night Shyamalan's skilled direction are Unbreakable's greatest assets, but it slips into the very downfalls of the genre it is trying to honour.