Unbreakable: Review By slysnide

In the second supernatural film by Shyamalan, he explores the idea of "opposites attract," to no avail at the box office, or with fans.

It was THE MOST expensive script in Hollywood after the success of Shyamalan's previous film "6th Sense," and was just that much more slow moving and unappealing overall. Just a big letdown that had enough intrigue in it to keep you watching and waiting for that big moment where Elijah's ravings may be proven true in a flurry of stunning sequences, or a showdown between hero & villain that would fit the motif of his comic book philosophy, but THAT moment, never comes.

Samuel L. Jackson stars as Elijah Price, a man who was born with a defect that seemingly gave him glass bones and paper skin, so his life was never gonna be that amazing...in HIS eyes at least. Until his distraught mother taunted him with comic books to get him to come outside on the playground with the other children who'd make fun of him, or ignore him, making the comic book his lifelong obsession, and personal philosophy. It rings true when he meets a man named David Dunn, who survives a train derailment which killed all on board but him, leaving no scars or bruises whatsoever. And upon expressing his philosophy of there always being a total opposite of everything else, David's life becomes much more dramatic as his 'abilities' begin to shine through, and Elijah's philosophical ravings begin to drive the family off the wall. Sam Jackson was okay in the role, but every scene seemed way too deep in regards to what was actually going on in a scene.

Bruce Willis stars as David Dunn, who thinks Elijah to be totally crazy to embrace such a crazed philosophy, and just wants him to go away, but he never does. And his son even becomes so convinced of his father's 'unbreakability' that he pulls a loaded gun on him and threatens to shoot to prove Elijah right. But as time goes on, David accepts Elijah's theory and asks him for advice to test his abilities, and so it seems that mere physical contact is more than enough to see the evil deeds a person has done, and one of them has taken a family hostage after killing his way inside, leaving David with a choice, which leaves Elijah waiting in quiet anticipation for the end result. Bruce plays a laid back kinda guy that also seems a bit less energetic than his role as Dr. Malcom Crowe in Night's previous film "6th Sense," which was also a less energetic role, and he very much makes you believe that he solidly thinks that Elijah's a crazy man that takes comic books too seriously, whether that is true or not.

However, said end result of the testing of his abilities isn't that extraordinary as the action that is implied to occur never does, while Elijah references the terrible fatal incidents that have left hundreds dead over the past month or year as something that enriches his theory that there is only one opposite for one kind of thing, such as his breakability vs. David's unbreakability. And thus, the twist ending isn't that surprising, for every superhero, needs a supervillain.

Overall, Night coulda done a much better job at making this movie more enjoyable, and more believable. While the acting was so-so, the story was semi-intriguing, and there were no breathtaking visuals, Night had multiple opportunities to sp*ce up the story to meet expectations of fans of his prior film "6th Sense" that he didn't take advantage of, and while the movie may be "Unbreakable," the story is truly forgettable.