Unbreakable

Writer and director of The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan, brings us another supernatural suspense thriller in the form of 2000 film Unbreakable. 

Unbreakable is the story of a neighbourhood superhero, who’s power is discovered by a comic book fanatic when he is the unscathed soul survivor on a fatal train wreck. David Dunn (Bruce Willis) learns a lot about himself after he survives the train crash, and is forced to admit the past and learn his place on Earth.Comic book fanatic Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) who suffers from a disease that makes his bones brittle and easily broken, coaxes these realisations in his own personal search for his polar opposite; an unbreakable hero.

The film bears many similarities to 1999 film The Sixth Sense, and not just the fact that it stars Bruce Willis and is directed/written by the same person. It’s slow paced and gripping from the start with a tense atmosphere and subtle yet brilliant supernatural undertones. Willis‘ performance is spot on, the character is quite dull and pensive with very little expression which works well for the film and Willis does a great job. Samuel L. Jackson‘s character is like someone from a comic book, which I suppose is the idea. He is just like an evil mastermind, and like Willis he does a brilliant job in his portrayal.

The story is far fetched, but what supernatural film isn’t? It’s brilliantly enthralling and will have you completely hooked till the end, wanting to know what’s going on. You can really get involved with the characters, particularly David and his wife Audrey who have been going through a rough patch. When their son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) pulls a loaded gun on David to prove that he can’t be killed you can feel the suspense bubbling out of the screen and you can almost feel the fear of the characters; which can only be a good sign, right?

Unbreakable might be a bit old now, but it certainly doesn’t look and feel dated. It’s a unique storyline that’ll have you hooked, and the tension and suspense is brilliant. The film boasts a great cast, and intriguing and suspenseful soundtrack and dark, clever cinematography. The editing is slightly dated with some really long fade transitions, which do get a little tiresome, but the standard of the rest of the film more than makes up for it. Well worth checking out, or even re-watching it if you haven’t seen it for a while.