Unbreakable is essentially an anti-superhero movie, taking many of the genres staples and applying them to a real-life thriller, years before Christopher Nolan rebooted the Batman franchise with his realistic and plausible worldview. The hero, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) has alliterative initials (Bruce Banner/Peter Parker/Clark Kent), wears a hooded cloak and has a penchant for posing in the rain with a bright light behind him, illuminating a stark silhouette on the screen, yet unlike most comic book heroes, when he tries to chat up a girl (after slyly removing his wedding ring) the attempt fails. That never happened to Tony Stark. The film is even shot like a comic book, with the aforementioned chat up routine swaying from person to person between seats on a train, and many scenes utilising one bright colour, such a bright orange boiler suit, contrasting against the surrounding dreary muted blacks, browns and greys.
The plot concerns Dunn’s lone, unscathed survival from a horrific train wreck, and his subsequent meeting with Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price, known as the Glass Man due to the brittle nature of his skeleton. Being a Shyamalan film, there is a twist in the tale, and a satisfying one it is too, something hinted at when, as a boy, Price’s mother gives him a comic book, telling him “They say this one has a surprise ending.” This is also a rarity, in that it is a comic book movie, where one of the main characters is obsessed with comic books. The film rewards repeat viewings, as you can see how everything clicks into place with the characters in their respective key roles, and how they play to the genre stereotypes.
Choose Film. 7/10
