Mixed bag

Rating: 6/10 (4 December 2000)

Reading through the comments already posted on this film, it's pretty obvious that opinions are divided on Unbreakable, and for good reason...the movie is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it really is well-crafted, with stellar to serviceable performaces across the board and some pretty taut moments, particularly the beginning and the last twenty minutes.
On the other hand, it has a slow second act and falls short in several areas, particularly characterization, emotion and in a few key moments, plausibility. Yeah, the ending isn't even close to that of Sixth Sense, but anyone really disappointed by that had unrealistic expectations. The ending works, it just doesn't really add much to what preceded it, while the ending to Sixth Sense cast a new perspective on everything that happened in that entire film.
What really bugged me in Unbreakable was the characters motivations were largely unexplained (both for Willis' and Jackson's characters) to the point that the ending really doesn't pay off the way it is meant to, because we don't really buy it.
And as a tribute to the comic book genre, I think it fails. What makes the comic book genre so great is the how fantastic the stories, the characters, the action is. To try to ground that in the real world is like trying to take the tackling out of football. You change it's essence so much that what's left constitutes but a shadow of what makes the real thing so great.
Now the hype around Shyamalan will dim a bit, as well it should, as we wonder whether he's a one-trick pony. I bet he comes back big next time, hopefully riding on something that's different for him and doesn't rely so heavily on a surprise ending. My rating: 6.5/10