A Unique and Interesting Take on the Superhero Origin Story

Rating: 8/10 (11 February 2014)

Superhero movies, what can you say about them? Every year, we see at least one of them and every time they come out, it's money in the bank for the studios. But with how popular the genre has become, one film that's often overlooked in the genre is M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. Which is sad because this is actually one of the more thought-provoking and unique films in the genre. So why do so few people talk about this movie after all these years? Let's find out.
Plot: David Dunn is a security guard who becomes the sole survivor of a train accident with no sustained injuries whatsoever. After surviving the train accident, David receives a mysterious note asking him the question "How many times have you been sick?" and from then on, he embarks on a journey with Elijah Price, a comic-book historian and museum owner who suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a disease that causes the patient's bones to be extremely brittle, to discover that David may be, a superhuman.
The thing that surprised me about this film is how it has its own mythology and how believable and unique it is. This film has the idea that comic-books are basically representations of real-life but that they've been commercialized so they lost some of that truth but the essence is still there. People may not be able to see through walls or shoot fire out of their hands in real-life but people DO have extraordinary abilities that seem out of this world such as David's ability to never be injured or his ability to tell bad deeds someone's done simply by touching their hand. There's a lot of films made about the idea of having a superhero in real-life such as Kick-Ass and Super but I've never seen a film before that suggests comic-books to be real. Also, while the idea of a man being "unbreakable" and able to tell someone's bad deeds just by touching their hand would seem very silly if it was done in the traditional, Hollywood blockbuster way where we would see David do all sorts of crazy stuff with CGI and stuff, Shayamalan presents this idea in a believable, realistic fashion. David in this movie is certainly not a regular human being, but at the same time, his powers are JUST down-to-earth enough for us to buy that someone could possibly possess these powers in real- life. It's a remarkable achievement for a film to make me believe that a guy could possibly possess superpowers in real-life.
There's also lot of philosophy and questions raised in this film. This movie features the idea of destiny in that we're all meant to follow a certain path in life whether we want to or not and it's quite fascinating. This movie features the "born to be the hero" archetype in David with him destined to be a superhero but it also features the OTHER side of the spectrum, the man born to be the villain, Elijah Price A.K.A Mr. Glass. The concept about a man being destined to become a hero is obviously not anything new as we've seen it all throughout film and literature but what makes this different is that this movie doesn't quite present it as simply "Destiny is good, you are meant for great things!". It challenges us by asking "What if you are born a villain?", and this is a great, FASCINATING topic that this movie thankfully delves into quite a lot. It makes you question "Is evil born, or is it created?". And while there a bunch of different ways to look at this film, in my eyes, it's both. Mr. Glass in this film is born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which causes him to feel lonely and lost as he struggles to find his place in the world but when he finds out he's meant to be the yang to David's yin, he finally knows who he is and why he's born the way he was. While it's not exactly a comforting thing to know, he at least finally knows his place in the world. But on the other hand, it's CREATED because it was Elijah's desperation that led to him to his quest where he initiated acts of terrorism just to find his opposite, David.
Now, let's talk about the acting and the directing. I'll just talk about Willis and Jackson since this film is really just about them. Bruce Willis is excellent here as David. He plays David as someone who is simply lost as to who he is life and who's feeling this constant sadness with that he can't explain and Willis'soft-spoken, brooding personality fits very well into this character. Samuel plays Elijah as a very determined and philosophical figure. He delivers all of his lines with a presence of authority and Sam's voice really convinces you what he's saying, is true. His best scene is towards the end where he breaks down in tears from finding out who he is and this is a very tricky scene for any actor to act out because his character is feeling a lot of different emotions at the same time. But Sam really sells this scene and makes it a really powerful moment in the film.
Shyamalan surprisingly did a very good job directing this film. He gives this film a slow, unsettling mood and it makes the film all the more engaging and interesting as it makes it feel very unpredictable. He used a lot of takes that go on for a really long time and that really helps you get into what the actors are saying for some reason. But one minor thing that bugged me about his direction was his constant use of upside- down shots. I don't know, I just found them sort of distracting.
Overall, the unique mythology, fascinating philosophy, solid acting, and engaging direction all add up to one of the most captivating superhero films ever made. 10/10