Review of Unbreakable (2000) by Harry W — 20 Apr 2014

As the only M. Night Shyamalan films I have witnessed have been his significantly lesser efforts, I didn't know what to expect from Unbreakable, but since it had both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson as cast members it was bound to have some value of entertainment.

Unbreakable is one of the few superhero films which looks at its superpowered character as a human being dealing with the realisation of what strength he possesses instead of putting him into a series of comic book style action scenes, so it has an ambitious theme of exploring the humanity, and in the process it lets things move along at a gentle pace so that viewers can sympathetically connect to the story as.

Unbreakable reveals the humanity behind what it is to face having superpowers and it is entirely dedicated to creating a superhero instead of throwing him into visual effect-enhanced battle sequences. This proves to be both a positive and negative element in Unbreakable, because while it takes an insightful look into its characters and themes, it constantly feels like it is building towards something which it never reaches, and admittedly it feels like it ends rather abruptly. Also, the ending is serves as the first example of one of M. Night Shyamalan's reputation for instigating bad twist endings. The ending in Unbreakable isn't bad and isn't as bad as his significantly worse ones, but it still comes out of nowhere and seems a little bit ridiculous. While it gives a good characterisation to Elijah Price, the entire idea behind it seems ridiculous. It's not unnecessary, it just seems a little bit unbelievable. I guess I give it a mixed response because it fits the context of the comic book genre well and is good for character purposes, but it just seems a little ridiculous.

And although I found the slow pace of Unbreakable to be a little too slow for me at times, it gave me enough time to really get a feel for what the characters were facing, and so it works as one of M. Night Shyamalan's better films. He is known for making films that move at a slow pace, and instead of being boring and dull, Unbreakable tends to constantly be asking questions. And most of the time, Unbreakable manages to answer them. So Unbreakable is a fairly insightful and intelligent superhero film which replaces action with depth, and while many people may find themselves alienated from the slow movement of the film and its gentle darkness, those who can appreciate its insightful look into humanity and the characters that the story revolves around will find themselves walking away from Unbreakable rather pleased with the experience.

Unbreakable crafts a memorable visual style due to the way that the cinematography takes a close look at things while stepping back so that it captures the mood of the events the characters are facing and the scale of them at the same time. It is reminiscent of a neo-noir style of filmmaking which would later be explored in another Bruce Willis film, Sin City. So Unbreakable has a film style to it which feels like a mix of neo-noir and comic book style.

The musical score in Unbreakable is one of its finest technical elements because it is gentle and yet eerie, allowing a subtle feeling of intensity to take over. Even in some of the more emotionally dramatic scenes, the musical score consistently remains subtle yet dramatically effective, so as a whole the atmosphere in Unbreakable is a strong asset and is fairly key to the film's success.

And one of the greatest virtues in making Unbreakable a compelling feature is the strength of its cast.

Bruce Willis' lead performance in Unbreakable proves just how well he works under the direction of M. Night Shyamalan once again. Although he is known for his high-profile roles as action heroes, in Unbreakable he takes a step back and puts the focus into the depth of what goes into making a hero of such. Bruce Willis goes into the role easily and reminds us just what his true acting talents are, beyond his usual role of generic action hero. Unbreakable is a good example of a film which shows just what goes in to creating a character like the usual Bruce Willis action hero archetype, and he nails the role skilfully which dramatic tension which makes him a great choice for the lead role in Unbreakable because of how he keeps himself restrained and keeps the dramatic elements of his character a lot more subtle this time around instead of shouting them at the screen.

Samuel L. Jackson also manages to step up to his role in Unbreakable very well. Samuel L. Jackson contributes the elements of him to the character Elijah Price which make him a great actor, particularly in the way he creates a sense of both wisdom and mystery. There is no way to really predict what comes next from him in Unbreakable because Samuel L. Jackson leaves viewers constantly guessing. There is no denying the strength of Samuel L. Jackson's performance in Unbreakable because it is restrained and dramatically effective, and the dark sense of mystery that surrounds him will keep viewers interested fairly consistently until they find out just who he is. Samuel L. Jackson keeps things strong on a consistent basis with his firm performance in Unbreakable.

Robin Wright also gives a strong supporting performance and shares a fairly effective.

So while the slow pace and character focused aspects of Unbreakable keep on constantly suggesting that something big is going to happen which doesn't prove to be the case with the exception of a sudden and less than stellar ejnding, it also allows it to be a thought provoking and insightful look at what it is to be a person born with the strength of a superhero and has a great visual style, strong soundtrack and dedicated cast which makes Unbreakable one of the better films directed by Academy Award nominated and Golden Raspberry Award winning filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.