mediaWhack! Movie Review:
Unbreakable (2000)
M. Night Shyamalan's second feature film, entitled Unbreakable, was released in autumn of 2000, and even four years later it remains the most personal meditation on superheroes yet captured on the silver screen. It explores the impact and meaning of superheroes and their unusual abilities on the everyman and his world, here Bruce Willis's character, David Dunn, and his fractured family unit, which includes a lonely son (Spencer Treat Clark), and an estranged wife (Robin Wright Penn)..
More than that, the film is a carefully structured attempt to blend kitchen-sink, "realistic" screen drama with the tenets of the colorful and flamboyant world of comic-book movies. Beginning in about 1999 - 2000, filmmakers like Shyamalan and Bryan Singer (X-Men) began to drive superhero films closer to our reality - meaning fewer dynamic costumes, less outlandish villains, and strong, human characterizations. In the case of Unbreakable, this experiment is surely a great success because the director has utilized history, human psychology and sociology to forge a surprisingly strong case for the existence of superheroes, or "guardians," and the result is a film that is not merely entertaining, but endlessly thought-provoking.
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During the course of Unbreakable, Shyamalan hints at the true nature of his carefully-drawn protagonists. Dunn is not merely a common man, but a "benched" superhero. He has shelved his true nature because his wife does not approve of violence, and so he is experiencing a sort of lassitude that comes from the fact that his destiny (as a guardian) has been blocked. Similarly, Elijah dwells in a meaningless, empty world, because he has not yet discovered his purpose or calling in life. By training David Dunn, by making Dunn acknowledge his gift, Elijah finds his place - and his role, in the universe. That it turns out to be a diabolical one is ultimately unimportant. What Unbreakable states succinctly is that every man, good or evil, must accept his destiny, must remain true to his inner self. Fans who have read Superman or Spider-Man comics will recognize this theme immediately.
Conveyed seriously, with no campy humor to distance audiences from his dramatis personae, Shymalan finds a number of ways to make the unusual (and difficult to portray on film...) world of superheroes seem realistic. For instance, he reaches for historical precedents, noting how comic-books are merely commercial versions of truth, an "exaggeration," and that is one effective way to make the case for "real" superheroes.. When one considers that so many ancient cultures boast stories of "super men" like Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, Aeneas, and so forth, this isn't that hard to believe. But more to the point, Shyamalan doesn't gild the lilly. He makes David's so-called "super powers" believable by defining them as being at the far end of the human spectrum. Certainly he has incredible strength - and some psychic flashes, but the former is a result of a hardy immune system, and the latter is a paranormal ability that many authorities do believe has been quite adequately vetted over time, Psychometry (first defined in 1849). Very little suspension of disbelief is required to see Dunn as a superhero or guardian. In other words, he doesn't fly, travel 300 miles an hour, or turn invisible. He doesn't spin webs out of his hands, stretch his body to absurd proportions or transform into a giant green monster. No, David merely has heightened physical and mental abilities.
In visual terms, Unbreakable depicts its opposing characters with stark color contrasts. David's world is always olive-green - from his poncho to the interior of his house (especially the kitchen). By contrast, Elijah's world is flamboyant purple - a flourish that goes back to his first comic book. This was a present given him by his mother when he was a child - and it was wrapped in purple packaging, clearly a defining moment in his life. This distinctive color scheme relates to a common facet of superhero comics: that each character is identified by a color. The Penguin wears black, Green Goblin is (obviously...) green, Daredevil is bedecked in bright red, the Joker boasts green hair, and Superman is seen in all-American variations of bright red and blue. The truth of the matter is that superhero comics are often overtly color coded to indicate subconsciously and powerfully to audiences who the characters are, and Unbreakable picks up this notion. Think too of alliteration. David Dunn is no Peter Parker or Bruce Banner, but the double "d" in his name is a subtle indicator from the film's first frame that he is a man of special heritage and calling.
Unbreakable met with some resistance during its release, in no small part because it was advertised as a horror film, not unlike Shyamalan's previous film, The Sixth Sense (1999), but over time, as superheroes have become more realistic (consider Smallville's rules of no flight and no tights...), the film's influence on the genre's direction has become more pronounced. Finely acted, dramatically staged, with purposeful script and production design, Unbreakable is one of the genre greats because it takes nothing for granted, and with studious attention builds each one of its dramatic points. It earns the right to be called a "superhero film" and makes audiences believe that even if a man can't fly, he can be special, a protector with the will and ability to defend us from harm.
CAST: Bruce Willis (David Dunn); Samuel L. Jackson (Elijah Price/Mr. Glass); Robin Wright Penn (Audrey Dunn); Spencer Treat Clark (Joseph Dunn); Charlayne Woodard (Elijah's Mother); Eamonn Walker (Dr. Mathison).
CREW: Touchstone and Blinding Edge Pictures Presents a Barry Mendel Production of an M. Night Shyamalan Film, Unbreakable. Casting: Douglas Aibel. Costume Design: Joanna Johnston. Music: James Newton Howard. Film Editor: Dylan Tichenor. Production Designer: Larry Fulton. Director of Photography: Eduardo Serra. Producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Barry Mendal, Sam Mercer. Written, produced and directed by: M. Night Shyamalan. M.P.A.A. Rating: PG-13. Running Time: 107 minutes.