Well, as many of you already know, my second son was born today. And while he slept, I wrote about UNBREAKABLE. Still holds. And remains better than most movies in the same sub-genre.
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I found myself rummaging through the five-dollar bin of DVDs at that one store that sounds a lot like Hallmart. As per usual, I wasn’t really finding anything that was quite tickling my fancy in the sort of way a movie would have to in order to justify it as an impulse buy. I was about to give up. But then I spotted it. The Vista Series edition of M. Night Shyamalan’s UNBREAKABLE. Pristine. Glorious. Mine.
At the time of purchasing this DVD and writing this article, the movie was also available to stream via Netflix. I was well aware of this. But it’s a movie worth owning in its physical form. Take that to the bank – and cash it. Besides, it’s a two-disc special edition!
Now you might ask, “Nick, isn’t UNBREAKABLE sort of along the lines of KICK-ASS or SUPER?” And my steadfast reply would go a little something like this, “No! Not at all. UNBREAKABLE is fifty times better than those two!”
And after finally revisiting UNBREAKABLE after having not seen it in at least five years, I stick by my fictitious quote above. It’s also, dare I say it, M. Night’s best film. Yes, the same guy who gave us THE SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS and THE VILLAGE. It’s his rain-soaked comic book movie that stands above them all.
In the movie, Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, a security guard at the football stadium of a local college. He’s an every-man, but it one extraordinary way, he’s no one we’ve ever met or known before. Now let’s back up just a hair. Before we’re introduced to Willis’ character, we’re given the complete origin tale of Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price, nicknamed Mr. Glass.
See, Elijah was born with a super rare bone disorder that leaves them extremely fragile. In fact, he was born with both arms and both legs broken. Ouch. As a young child, the neighborhood kids began to call him Mr. Glass. But Elijah, being the smart guy that he is, figures that if he’s so brittle and breakable, then surely there has to be someone in the world who is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum – someone who is nothing short of unbreakable.
Dun-dun-dun…cue David Dunn.
Through a horrific train wreck, which left David as the unharmed sole survivor, Elijah believes he has finally found his opposite.
Naturally, once confronted with the evidence, David has a hard time believing that he’s this unbreakable being – slowly figuring out that he is, in fact, a superhuman.
What sets this apart from newer movies of a similar genre is that UNBREAKABLE goes that extra mile to really delve into the lives of the central characters, exercising a length of character development that is a definite rarity nowadays.
The only real fatal flaw associated with UNBREAKABLE was how it was marketed. Like one of M. Night’s later films, LADY IN THE WATER, it was completely mismanaged and marketed totally wrong. LADY IN THE WATER was a cool bed time story, but we were lead to believe it was a mystery-thriller in the same vein as THE VILLAGE or SIGNS. Couldn’t have been more wrong.
And it was the same for UNBREAKABLE. It is very much a superhero origin story. But once again, we’re lead to be believe that it was supposed to be “along the lines of THE SIXTH SENSE.” Again, this couldn’t be further from reality.
Where UNBREAKABLE thrives, where others like KICK-ASS or HANCOCK fail, is it’s a slow-burning wick, finally exploding with one helluva payoff at the end. Even now, fifteen years later, UNBREAKABLE is a film to be reckoned with. And with recent chatter of a sequel from creator M. Night Shyamalan himself, there’s sure to be a David Dunn revival right around the corner.
UNBREAKABLE is unbeatable in what it tries to accomplish. A tour de force. And quite possibly one of the best superhero films ever made.