(warning - potential spoiler) this film is basically 'the sixth sense' all over again

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 2001)

(some of this review might be a bit of a spoiler - just to warn you) I'll admit it - I liked the Sixth Sense. It kept me on the edge of my seat, the scary parts were good, I didn't guess the ending, I liked the mood. So I had pretty good expectations for Unbreakable. Man, was I ever disappointed. M. Night Shyamalan pretty much just made the same movie all over again, but much worse. Here's what I mean: Both movies are about someone who has an innate 'gift' - In the Sixth Sense, it's the ability to see dead people. In Unbreakable, it's superhuman strength with the ability to see BAD people. Both Cole in Sixth Sense and David in Unbreakable are frightened by their powers and don't understand why they have them. Through the help of an outside party (Malcolm in the Sixth Sense, Elijah in Unbreakable) they realize that they're meant to use their power to help people. They show one experience in each film (Cole with the dead girl; David with the murderer in the orange shirt). Then, everything seems fine...until the TWIST! I won't spoil the twist, but the parallels between the two films was quite frustrating to me. Before I saw Unbreakable, I thought M. Night Shyamalan was a promising director. Now, I think he's a hack who got lucky once.