Unbreakable (2000)

DVD, Somerville, MA

April 15, 2007

*** 1/2 / ****

Comic book movies are running rampant these days. Spiderman, Batman, Superman, even Ghost Rider, Elektra, and The Punisher have recently had movies made about them. Some of these efforts add a realistic edge to the drama. Others go for cartoonish gusto. Still others are a mesh of the two. Unbreakable, a precursor to these modern efforts, quietly meshes realism with gusto adding a layer of eerie darkness that hangs over every spoken word and every seamy corridor its characters enter. It is devoid of special effects, outlandish monologues, and rambunctious action scenes that clutter most super-hero movie fare and wonderfully eschews typical convention by merely hinting at super powers and hidden identities. In fact, nearly all of the action takes place off screen and only what leads up to and follows the action is ever shown. Curious then that such a movie can involve us so deeply when what we’d expect to draw our attention, especially in this genre, is exactly what we’re never shown.

The story of Unbreakable involves Bruce Willis as morose stadium security guard David Dunne. Miraculously surviving a train wreck that kills every passenger aboard, Dunne is relentlessly pursued by crippled comic book obsessive Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson). After hearing his story Prince is enamored by Dunne and believes there is much more to his successful survival than merely luck: Prince believes Dunne is a superhero. Cursed by his own misfortune (Prince has brittle bones that are susceptible to even the slightest fall) Prince believes he and Dunne are connected as possible opposites and destined for some type of permanent attachment. Where exactly Prince’s conjectures lead Dunne and how he arrives at his destiny is as fascinating as it is surprising and rewarding.

As the movie progresses we are introduced to Dunne’s family, wife Audrey (Robin Wright Penn) and teenaged son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clarke), and discover that David is in the midst of a separation. As David struggles to understand how the pieces of his life fit into a superhero template we become engrossed in the real problems and complications that his character experiences. Unlike other movies about superheroes the world in Unbreakable is our world, right down to the struggling marriage and difficult relationship with his son, and the miraculous is just that, not a device to enable a series of special effects.

Unbreakable is at its heart a story about people finding their place in life, about each individual struggling to discover their ultimate purpose whether it be husband and father, protector of the weak and wronged, or something altogether different or perhaps even evil. By telling this very real feeling story with his beautiful and unique pallet and without relying on the outlandish twists and turns that often distract from the humanity of his tales, Unbreakable just may be M. Night Shyamalan’s best work. Dark, foreboding, sad, and completely engrossing, Unbreakable is a unique entry in the superhero genre and a stand out noir landmark.