“Unbreakable” by Leader K

Posted by Mr Riddler on August 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Leader K

Elder film

Unbreakable

Unbreakable begins with a major train wreck that kills more than a hundred unsuspecting victims while one man; David Dunn survives the crash without a scratch. After this David’s looks for a meaning in all this. He then encounters Elijah Price a high end comic book dealer whose bones are as fragile as glass. Elijah believes David to be a super hero. David thinks the man is crazy but soon realizes that he has never been sick in his life, never been injured, no matter how much weight he tries to lift he always can, and when working at his job as a security guard he can sense when people have committed crimes. David begins to wonder if he really IS a super hero. Da Da DAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Despite being the second film of one M. Night “Shiaminlamodonoman” who a year prior released the widely acclaimed “Sixth Sense” staring John McClain (Bruce Willis) and Sora (Hayley Joe “My first and middle name are mixed up” Osmand) who together created #65 (made up number) of AFI’s top 100 movie quotes “I see Dead people”. This newer film again starring McClain, but NOT The Keyblade’s Chosen One (Spencer Clark), and the added plus of the bad guy from Jumper (Sam Jackson), neither performed well nor glowed with the glory of critical praises at the time.

But that was another time, a time where John McClain could still say f@%$#r without having to shoot himself to excuse it, Sora was still on Destiny island (metaphor), That bad guy from Jumper still had everyone fooled that he was a good actor, and M Night Sham was considered to be a greatly anticipated new director to watch out for in the future (rather than avoid like the plague).
Today thanks to the the wars between the blue-ray and the now utterly obliterated HD-DVD many forgotten films have been given a second and third and even forth chance to hit the audience in the face. I was ten back when Shamalamadidndong was still a good writer, and sense 2000 my family has had Unbreakable in the house to watch on a rainy day.

Why talk about this now? Well brain-dead its simple: with the resent release of “The last Airbender” being the straw that finally broke the camel’s interest in Shyamalan, i have given up defending the man. After ten years of a good director being a bad writer and kicking himself in the head every time, i can no longer argue that he is worth anyone’s money anymore. Flop after flop, twist after twist, i am all out of energy to give my support (not that that means much).
But as i am not one to act so negative, rather than speak the language of hate whenever i mention the name Shya, i must always say “I like Unbreakable”. I liked the “Sixth Sense” as well but the two are equal placeholders at this point for the continued argument that even the worst of villains (an exaggeration, Avatar is no better than other mediocre shows like Bleach. I SAID it!) have some good in them.

Back when this movie first hit theaters comic book fans went out to see a comic book movie (as M had intended the film be marketed). It may or may not be needless to say that the comic nerds didn’t really get what they were expecting.
On the opposite side of the bridge opinion old people (ranging from 30 and up) saw the deceptive trailer and went to see the film with no idea what so ever that the movie involved super hero’s and villains and what not.

note deceptive awesome trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/v/R_f1uCWKZQs?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00

What we got (not to steal Riddlers format) was a quiet and somber little urban legend with an ending that nearly eclipsed the films quality and became known for the “TWIST”. Willis gives the best acting performance of his career as the oddly familiar to David Dunn. The constant shocks and calms of his arch are treated with such care that you might find yourself second guessing the movie, trying to say what was going to happen as if you were watching any other embarrassingly predictable super hero film. Dunn is not a normal man with extraordinary power, he is dissolving in a world that continues to disappoint. He is losing his connection to his wife and son, he feels he has nothing to prove because he is nothing special, and when he discovers that he truly is something more he doesn’t look at himself as a powerful force for something good, he is simply trying to reassure his existence with a pre-set heroic ideal, his power becomes less than a gain and more like something (anything) that he can hold on to.

Samuel Jackson plays Elijah Price and also gives a performance worthy of his fame. Mr. Glass is such a powerful character that he seems to be the source of the eery calm surrounding the film. In the first scenes of the film that go without him, it still feels that there is a looming presence over Dunn and when he reveals himself as the man with supposedly all the answers i found myself instantly relying on him to be right. Taking all my assuming and jaded guessing and controlling them from the beginning. He has you beat, no matter who he faces, he will find a way, as he has the sheer force of will. As a kid i ignorantly thought that his super power was to control the movie.

It has been said by many critics over the years that Unbreakable is is but a copy in style of the “Sixth Sense”, is to slow in the middle, was killed by its deceptive marketing, the latter of which is the only thing a agree with for the most part. This is one of those movies that takes great pain from spoilers, and as i fear i have already alluded to this far to much i will give my rating ask urge greatly to check this flick out if you haven’t before, and if you have, do it again.