Is this Bruce Willis or the movie that is unbreakable?

Rating: Null/10 (17 January 2003)

By making this movie, M Night Shyamalan certainly felt like renewing with the artistic and commercial success of "the sixth sense". At the beginning, "unbreakable"'s got all the elements to become a great fantastic movie in the tradition of "the sixth sense". This time it's not the little Halet Joel Osment who's suffering but Bruce Willis himself! He's the only one having survived to a train crash and he hasn't got any broken bone. You can guess it: this situation makes him worried, his family becomes mistrustful, especially his son but more important, a museum director (Samuel L. Jackson) takes an interest in him. Maybe, will he reveal him the truth about the train crash... During a long part, the movie is fascinating. Night Shyamalan makes several odd sequences succeed (the oddest one is probably the first one which is Jackson's birth). These scenes abound in little unseemly details that make the plot progress. Moreover, the director succeeds in giving birth to an anguished climate. We don't see the train crash but everything contributes to distil anxiety. We arrive at the end and this is where the movie lacks of its attraction. Very simply, the conclusion fits badly with the plot and seems simplistic, puerile. Of course, "unbreakable" is not so far from "the sixth sense", Bruce Willis is always excellent as he was in his previous movie and Samuel L. Jackson is scheming because he hides a mysterious secret too. But however, you can't help feeling a certain disappointment after having seen "unbreakable". For lack of being extraordinary, it's an honourable success but that's all.