Unbreakable (2000)

By Cameron Hollis

Definitely one of my favourite films, Unbreakable is constantly overshadowed by The Sixth Sense, to the point where it has not received the recognition and credit it deserves.

Firstly, one reason why you should watch this film:  Samuel L Jackson.

The film follows the story of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), who is the only survivor of a train crash and who escapes with no injuries what so ever. He is contacted by Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson), known as Mr Glass – due to a rare disease that makes his bones break easily – who believes that because he is extremely frail, there must be someone who is extremely strong. Elijah proposes to David that he is the kind of person that superheroes in comics are modelled from. He continues to insist that this is the case and eventually David begins to test himself, finding that he is able to lift much larger weights than he previously thought, and that he has never been ill.David begins to develop extra sensory perception, and begins to accept that could be a superhero. He then goes on to use this perception to save a family who have been taken hostage by a sadistic janitor.

With regards to actors; the performance from Willis occasionally feels forced and sometimes seems that he is dictating his lines rather than acting them, although this is countered by a superb performance from Jackson.

Unbreakable vs. The Sixth sense

The film overall is in the same style of The Sixth Sense, mainly because it had the same director, so at the times it can be a little slow - like in The Sixth Sense, most of the scenes are mainly revolved around dialogue. Both also depict human nature to audience and they can see, as the films progresses, how this changes and what effects it has on us and the characters. A strong focus on character development is present in both films, especially the relationships between them; Dr Crowe (Bruce Willis again) and the young boy in The Sixth Sense then David Dunn and “Mr Glass” in Unbreakable. This development ultimately reaches a peak at the end of the films where revelations are made about the true nature of the relationships. However, in terms of this revelation at the end, the ending of Unbreakable is often considered by critics to be much weaker than that of The Sixth Sense. However, I believe this is because it was released just a year after The Sixth Sense, so everyone knew what to expect. The audience went into the cinema and knew that there was going to be a twist and so looked for the twist, making it have a lesser effect. On the contrary, once you have seen The Sixth Sense, you know the plot and the twist no longer evokes the same reaction, making the film lose its ‘rewatchability’. But Unbreakable continues to get you every time. The Sixth Sense is still a great film don’t get me wrong, but in this case I still believe that Unbreakable will continue to be superior.

Did I also mention, you get to see Samuel L Jackson fall down the stairs?