Unbreakable has an intelligent, amazing, gripping an unpredictable screenplay which has a splendid originality. It does not require its predecessor’s coat tails to ride in on, as it is a majestic masterpiece in its own entity. Every shot of the movie is a stirring piece of puzzle, where incredulity merges with awe. Writer and Director M Night Shyamalan, true to his reputation, has presented this time, a poem of supernatural destiny. Unbreakable is a riveting and suspenseful film that makes a giant step for the young director. It is a lush and astute piece of deception with Shyamalan introducing scenes and elements that have nothing to do with each other.
The movie starts with a title providing the statistics of comic books’ popularity and cuts back to a departmental store in Philadelphia, year 1961. A black woman has given birth to a baby with broken bones. That mood is carried over to the present as David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a stadium security guard, is travelling in a train, slips off his ring in an attempt to flirt with a pretty young woman who takes the seat next to him. The train shakes, jerks and the screen blurs. A ghastly accident has happened. David Dunn comes out unscathed, not a scratch on his body, with a tenacious aura of gloom to his survival. David’s marriage with Audrey (Robin Wright Penn) is on the rocks and he is staying with her and their young son (Spencer Treat Clark) in the same house.
A mysterious note, asking David when was the last time he got sick, leads him to Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson) a comic-book-art dealer with a bone disease which has made him injury prone. He speaks of comic books as a secret language like Egyptian pictographs. He is living in a lonely universe of comic books, which is more real to him. The neighbourhood kids used to call him Glassman. He has spent most of his childhood days in hospital finding his comfort in comic books. It is Elijah who alone understands why David survived the train crash and believes that David has greater abilities in him. He thinks that they are at the two ends of a tunnel, one with supernatural strength and the other most brittle and breakable. He attributes David’s miraculous escape to the extraordinary power he possesses, which is also the reason why he has been put on the earth.
At first David dismisses Elijah’s conclusions scornfully, but later feels that he has got an extra sensory perception. Elijah summarizes it as a power that all the super heroes possess. Things start to fall in place. Bruce Willis is very good as the confused protagonist. There is always sadness in his face and a charisma around him. Samuel J Jackson has given a sterling performance. His rich and sonorous voice takes him to Shakespearian heights of dialogue delivery. His portrayal of a comic book addict is one of the finest and he fills the screen with his fragile figure.
Shyamalan’s visual motifs adhere to the film’s themes, certain stunning shots are painted with a daringly small amount of light and a few frames have an intimate and monochromatic mass and volume. Eduardo Serra has moved his camera from one character to the other, making you feel that you are standing as an observer next to the action. Shyamalan has built a very good amount of tension through crafty hand-held camera angles. Dylan Tichenor’s brilliant editing gives a leisurely pace to the film with restrained cuts and matches. James N Howard’s musical score emphasizes the emotional states of the characters. The soundscape is marvellous, low on dialogue and superb in ambience. The moments of falling rain are superlative, all the drops fall around and on you. It is an aural magic.
Shyamalan is an excellent story weaver. He has unfolded the story like a painting that can be best appreciated in its finished form. The film treks through its journey, a journey deliberately unhurried, melancholic and intriguing. It has one of the best endings, I have ever seen. His work makes you sit at the edge of your seat on many occasions. He seduces the mind’s eye by teasing his way around what the audience doesn’t know. Unbreakable is a great work of suspense and Shymalan is here to stay. It is an exhilarating example of what a director can deliver. It is a reverie about the importance of identifying the meaning in everybody’s life.
You need a thinking cap while watching the movie, and please watch it unto the end. I will follow you for my second go at it, as I have been thinking and thinking and…………
Happy viewing.