Everything You Want to Know About Unbreakable ...
Except the Ending

By Teddy Durgin

Here are a few tips to help you enjoy "Unbreakable," the new film from "The Sixth Sense" director M. Night Shymalan: First, do NOT go this movie tired!  You will not like it!  If you're sleepy, or you stayed up the night before studying for exams, or you had a long day at work, stay away.  "Unbreakable" is slow.  Repeat that, it is s-l-o-o-o-o-w!  The movie is all about mood and atmosphere.  The characters all talk in hushed whispers and hypnotic monotones.  Why Ben Stein wasn't cast in some small role, I'll never know.

Second, do NOT go to this movie expecting it to be "The Sixth Sense!"  It's not.  Yes, it's about freaky, supernatural stuff
happening to Bruce Willis in Philadelphia.  But that is where the similarity ends.  There are no big scares, no kitchen drawers
opening by themselves, and no one sees dead people.

Third, even if you don't like this latest effort from Shymalan, seeing "Unbreakable" is worth it just to watch the brilliant trailer for next summer's "Pearl Harbor."  The three-minute preview is reportedly attached to every single print of "Unbreakable" now showing nationwide, and I am here to tell you that it is the single greatest freakin' trailer I have EVER SEEN!!!  God Almighty, this film is gonna rock if it is half as well done as the trailer!  It's so good, I forgot what I was actually in the theater to see until the movie started.  "Oh, right.  'Unbreakable,'" I said aloud.

All that said, "Unbreakable" is one of those rare movies that gets better, stronger, and more compelling as it goes on.  I
really didn't care for nearly the entire first half of this movie.  The pacing is Lazarus-slow, smacking of a director who is
taking his subject way too seriously.  The characters move too slow, they talk too slow, and I couldn't help but overhear
"Charlie's Angels" and "The Grinch" in the next couple of theaters down.  This might be the most quiet, big-budget motion picture to be released this year.

But it's also one of the most subtle.  The best films grip you from the opening moments and don't let go until the final credits.  "Unbreakable" is different.  It runs its hand up your slowly arm until it rests on your shoulder for a half-hour or so.   Then, you start to feel its fingers tighten.  Soon, they're clawing into your shoulder blade.  By the last half-hour, Shymalan's story has got you by the throat and is commanding your full attention.

Willis plays David, a man who survives a terrible train crash in which all of the other 125 passengers onboard were killed.  Not only does David survive, he walks out of the hospital without a scratch on him.  Into his life comes the mysterious Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), an avid comic-book collector and David's direct opposite.  Elijah has a condition that leaves his bones terribly brittle, leaving him terribly fragile.  Elijah believes that David is his alter ego, his soulmate.  He believes that David has supernatural powers that should be used to battle evil, just like in the comics.

To say more would ruin Shymalan's densely plotted urban fable.  I will say that there is a somber twist at the end, but it is not
gimmicky.  It completes the story.  Actually, I wouldn't even clarify it as a twist.  The movie concludes by giving you a piece
of information you just didn't get throughout the story.  It's a good one.

So is "Unbreakable."  I wish the overall piece had more substance and less style, but Shymalan (who wrote, directed, and produced the film) is clearly a force to be reckoned with.  Here, he has written and filmed a realistic superhero story by asking: "What if?"  What if a man really had super strength?  What if he had the ability to withstand terrible crashes, falls, and physical attacks?  And what if he was able to tell if a person has committed a crime just by touching him/her?  "Unbreakable" is equal parts "Batman, "The Dead Zone," and "The Sixth Sense." It's not a big-screen comic book.  It's a big-screen tragic book!