a good follow-up to the smash hit The Sixth Sense

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2001)

MAJOR SPOILERS
The fundamental flaw of Unbreakable is that Shyamalan clings tenaciously to the structure, pace, themes, characters and mood of The Sixth Sense. That film was the surprise blockbuster in August of 1999, so it only makes (financial) sense for him to emulate it, and the studio to approve it. Alas, although Unbreakable made a large chunk of money at the box office, that success was far below analysts' estimates and was technically a flop.

I had planned on seeing it, but a couple of friends had told me that it wasn't as good as The Sixth Sense. One friend told me that it was the worst major motion picture that he had ever seen and begged me to swear an oath never to see it. I told him that, just based on the artistic success of The Sixth Sense, I had to see it no matter how bad it was. I promised I wouldn't "waste my money" at the theater and waited until it came out on DVD. Heck, I didn't even rent it myself, but watched it after my brother had rented it.

And I found it rather good. Like I said, its major flaw is that it wants to be a second The Sixth Sense in every way. I wish the style would have been altered a bit. I would have especially liked it more if it were not so self-serious, for, unlike The Sixth Sense, which was easier to take seriously (my imagination can accept ghosts without much problem), Unbreakable is about the real-life existence of an invincible man, a super hero. I may have liked it even more if it were a bit more clever about its absurd reality. David (Bruce Willis) is an ordinary man, and his burgeoning super-hero identity is interesting to watch. It gives his character layers. However, Mr. Glass (Sam Jackson) is such an eccentric individual that it is hard to accept him in the sort of realistic setting Shyamalan puts him in.

I'd like to talk about the "surprise ending" in this paragraph. This is another misstep of sorts for the film. I think that the surprise ending of The Sixth Sense both clinched its success and harmed the artistic integrity of the film. Most of the audience couldn't give a damn about artistic integrity, let alone plain old integrity, and most of them rushed home to tell all their friends that they never saw that surprise coming and that they have to go see it again to figure out what they missed the first time. I knew a lot of people who thought that that film was bad on subsequent viewings. That is because, despite the makeup of the audience (and despite the presence of Bruce Willis), The Sixth Sense was actually an art film. It was very slow-moving compared to your average blockbuster (consider the only film that beat it in the b.o. that year: Star Wars, Episode One: The Phantom Menace), and the focus was on the characters and their relationships. In Unbreakable, unlike in The Sixth Sense, the surprise ending is so clearly telegraphed that you would have to be completely not paying attention to miss it. However, I did not disapprove of it as much as I did the ending of The Sixth Sense. Unlike that ending, it doesn't force you to go back over everything. That film even had a montage sequence showing earlier scenes. In fact, I was sort of disappointed at the loss of an excellent opportunity with the ending Shyamalan chose. It is sort of like Primal Fear, where Richard Gere stumbles outside, dumbfounded. What I think should have been done here was to actually elevate it to the level of a comic book, actually make Mr. Glass a real super villain. It's as if Shyamalan had no clue what to do here.
And all I've talked about was the story. Shyamalan more than proves his worth as a director. His style is perhaps even more polished here than it was in The Sixth Sense. I really loved how he did the climactic sequence, especially the scene where David fell into a pool. I hope that he'll stop trying to ape his one hit and move onto more original projects. Lord knows he has the talent. 7/10