Unbreakable

Unbreakable is a superhero film by M. Night Shyamalan. It isn't a superhero film in the normal sense, though. It isn't based off any comics and the there aren't any costumes or masks. The story is one of a relatively normal man named David Dunn (Bruce Willis) who, after a tragic accident, learns something incredible about himself; he's indestructible. He is encountered by a man with the exact opposite condition, Elijah Price, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who wants to turn Dave into superhero like in the comics he collects. He has incredibly brittle weak bones that can break easily. The story strips down all the action and other unnecessary scenes, pulling out all of the basic underlying messages superhero movies are about. It spends equal time developing the hero as it does the villain, showing exactly how they reached their places in the world. What I thought was really special was the motive of the villain. Most of the time, the main antagonist is two-dimensional, or, even if he is deep, he's driven by a predictable motive like money or revenge. Instead this villain is driven by the simple need to know what his place in the world is. What was best was the tense mood throughout, which was enhanced by very sufficient directing. My favorite scene was when Elijah was trying to chase down a man, but with his condition, running can be very dangerous. When the man runs down into the subway system, Elijah decides to risk it and go down after him. I was on the edge of my seat, as the stairs looked very steep, and as he walked down, the camera zoomed in on his feet. I was just waiting for him to misstep and fall. The two weak points were the pointless romance, and the ending. It was very abrupt, without any closure. I liked the closing dialogue, but once it ended, there were some words about what happened next, then the credits rolled. We never actually saw what happened to the characters, we were just told. Everything before that was perfect, but the ending means a lot. I don't want to judge it all for one moment, so I'll say I still loved it as much as hoped, but I guess I didn't hope it would be flawless. B+