CU Film Critic takes on "Unbreakable."

Rating: Null/10 (17 October 2001)

I have a newfound respect for director M. Night Shaymalan. Anybody who can give Samuel L. Jackson a bad haircut and get away with it is someone I don't want to mess with.
I walked into Shaymalan's latest directorial effort with mixed expectations. On one hand, with `The Sixth Sense,' he established himself as a gifted director with a penchant for original and surprising storylines. On the other, I knew that it was going to be difficult for him to create a follow-up to that critically acclaimed blockbuster without disappointing people.
I wasn't disappointed.
The way I look at it, the less you know about the film when you enter the theatre, the better. The movie trailers, for once, gave only the slightest glimpse into the plot- a perfect teaser to a great film. I could sit here and contrast it with the latest trailer for the upcoming Tom Hanks movie, `Cast Away.' It's a four minute long spectacle detailing the beginning, middle, climax, and final resolution of the film. Now that I've seen the trailer for `Cast Away,' I really don't need to see the film. But I digress.
`Unbreakable' stars Bruce Willis as David Dunn, a security guard who also happens to be the only survivor of a devastating train wreck. Costar Samuel L. `The Man' Jackson portrays Elijah Price, an upscale comic dealer with an extreme bone disorder who seeks to help Dunn find the answers to lifelong, haunting questions.
Really, my only complaint is that I would have liked to see more from Willis' character. Other than that, I feel it was a well-made flick, and I'm glad I get a chance to comment on the good aspects of it. The first thing I that impressed me was the cinematography. Shaymalan is really finding his niche in this aspect. Similar to `The Sixth Sense,' we get heavy shadows, brick buildings that dominate many of the shots, and a general `dark' feeling. Important to note is that I'm not talking about Tim Burton `dark' or David Lynch `dark.' Shaymalan adds his own atmosphere to his films, and I respect him for it.
The second thing I liked was the lack of dialogue. That may sound odd, but it seems to me that the entire story could have been told almost as effectively with no dialogue at all. That in itself says something about a director's ability to communicate an entire story through images, especially since there was almost no musical score to speak of.
You know what else I liked about the movie? Spencer Treat Clark. Or, as I like to call him, `The Poor Man's Haley Joel Osment.' It was obvious that Shaymalan had kept Osment in mind for the role of Willis' son, but Osment was, of course, too busy filming that pretentious waste of time `Pay it Forward.' Thus, Shaymalan was forced to come up with someone who at least resembled the goofy `I see dead people' kid. And you know what? I'm glad. Clark was a lot more entertaining to watch! Now if we can only get him to team up with Gary Busey. Then we'd have a film with not only `The Poor Man's Haley Joel Osment,' but also `The Poor Man's Nick Nolte.'
Go see this movie. It's enough to make u feel a little weirded out, but also a lot of fun. I was going to give `Unbreakable' a `B+.' After some thought, however, I decided that Samuel L. `The Man' Jackson's `Teletubbies' speech made it a little more deserving. We'll make it an `A-.'