Unbreakable
Touchtone, 2000
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

$$$

For a follow-up to The Sixth Sense, their 1999 hit supernatural thriller set in a grim, spooky-looking Philadelphia; new boy-genius director M. Night Shyamalan and Bruce "I Don't Want to Be An Action Hero Any More" Willis have made -- surprise -- another supernatural thriller set in a grim, spooky-looking Philadelphia. But, hey, since the first one turned out to be so friggin' good, this does not come as altogether bad news.

In fact, their latest, Unbreakable shares other positive attributes with its predecessor. It too, is excitingly original, deftly mixes moments of genuine humor with episodes of human tragedy, features an excellent performance by a child actor, and above all, expertly inflicts on us chilling moments that will make you jump out of your seat while at the same time avoiding the distinction of actually being a horror film.

It also has a plot that would be criminal to reveal. Like The Sixth Sense, much of the movie's success relies in its ability to surprise you. The marketing campaign for the movie does not give away the film's premise, so I won't either. All I'll tell you is what the ads tell you -- Willis plays the sole survivor of a horrible train wreck and Samuel L. Jackson plays a mysterious man who claims to know why Willis came out unscathed.

In the The Sixth Sense, as most people know by now, Willis discovered he was, shall we say, existence challenged. This time he discovers he's... something else. What that something is lands flat on the thin line between being incredibly cool and incredibly silly. I'll side marginally with incredibly cool since Shyamalan's concept and execution is so original, and it's hard not to like a filmmaker whose production office is in Conshohocken, PA.

That said, the movie's primary flaw is its slack pace. Bruce makes the discovery early on (there's another surprise at the end) and you'll wish his revelation had been explored more during the film's second act. Then, when things finally get going in Act Three, we're hit with an ending that feels too abrupt -- you'll yearn for a more thorough confrontation (you'll also feel like this was all a set-up for a sequel).

If Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense belong to the same family tree, then the newer branch is one that goes off in a much wilder direction. Both films deal with the isolation of being "different" as viewed through the prism of an everyman. But where the first film also deals essentially with loss, this time the focus is more on the evolution of myths and the reflective nature of reality and fantasy in a manner that pays the ultimate tribute to comic book geeks everywhere. Wait, maybe I've said too much!...

(c) Copyright 2000