Unbreakable -- 2-disc Collector's Edition (2000)
0159
IMDb Rating 7.1
Front Cover Actor
Bruce Willis David Dunn
Samuel L. Jackson Elijah Price
Robin Wright Penn Audrey Dunn
Spencer Treat Clark Joseph Dunn
Charlayne Woodard Elijah's Mother
Eamonn Walker Dr. Mathison
Leslie Stefanson Kelly
Johnny Hiram Jamison Elijah Age 13
Michaelia Carroll Babysitter
Bostin Christopher Comic Book Clerk
Plot
In Unbreakable, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan reunites with Sixth Sense star Bruce Willis, comes up with another story of everyday folk baffled by the supernatural (or at least unknown-to-science) and returns to his home town, presenting Philadelphia as a wintry haunt of the bizarre yet transcendent. This time around, Willis (in earnest, agonised, frankly bald Twelve Monkeys mode) has the paranormal abilities, and a superbly un-typecast Samuel L. Jackson is the investigator who digs into someone else's strange life to prompt startling revelations about his own. David Dunn (Willis), an ex-jock security guard with a failing marriage (to Robin Wright Penn), is the stunned sole survivor of a train derailment. Approached by Elijah Price (Jackson), a dealer in comic book art who suffers from a rare brittle bone syndrome, Dunn comes to wonder whether Price's theory that he has superhuman abilities might not hold water. Dunn's young son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) encourages him to test his powers and the primal scene of Superman bouncing a bullet off his chest is rewritten as an amazing kitchen confrontation when Joseph pulls the family gun on Dad in a desperate attempt to convince him that he really is unbreakable (surely, "Invulnerable" would have been a more apt title). Half-convinced he is the real-world equivalent of a superhero, Dunn commences a never-ending battle against crime but learns a hard lesson about balancing forces in the universe.

Throughout, the film refers to comic-book imagery--with Dunn's security guard slicker coming to look like a cape, and Price's gallery taking on elements of a Batcave-like lair--while the lectures on artwork and symbolism feed back into the plot. The last act offers a terrific suspense-thriller scene, which (like the similar family-saving at the end of The Sixth Sense) is a self-contained sub-plot that slingshots a twist ending that may have been obvious all along. Some viewers might find the stately solemnity with which Shyamalan approaches a subject usually treated with colourful silliness offputting, but Unbreakable wins points for not playing safe and proves that both Willis and Jackson, too often cast in lazy blockbusters, have the acting chops to enter the heart of darkness. --Kim Newman

Movie Details
Genre Drama; Fantasy; Thriller
Director M. Night Shyamalan
Producer Barry Mendel; Sam Mercer
Writer M. Night Shyamalan
Country UK
Language English
Audience Rating 12 and over
Running Time 106 mins
Movie Release Date 2000
Color Color
Personal Details
Format DVD
Seen It No
Index 119
Collection Status In Collection
Product Details
Region Region 2
Release Date 29/10/2001
Nr of Disks/Tapes 2
Extra Features
Dubbed PAL Widescreen
Links
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