Less and more

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2000)

Less and more than The Sixth Sense. In some ways, this film is just a reworking of Sixth Sense, with Willis in the Osment slot. The style, the structure, and many of the themes are the same. Both depend a great deal on mood, and both leave a few plot threads unresolved. Unbreakable is less because we've seen Sixth Sense, and so can anticipate the plot pretty well (including the shock ending). It's a bit more because it is darker and more thought-provoking. The movie drops a terrible moral conundrum in our laps--and gives us almost no clue toward its resolution. The rather sunny resolution of Sixth Sense is replaced with something very bitter. The movie would have been better if this bitterness were not so dependent on a brief twist at the end, but were more integrated into the characters' development. Nonetheless, it's a solid bit of work that seems better and better upon reflection.