“Unbreakable” is a 2000 Sci-Fi Drama directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The IMDb summary of it simply states: “A man learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident.” This description is both vague and boring.
An even better description of this movie is that David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is the sole survivor of a terrible train derailing that opens his life to the discovery of potential superpowers after he meets the mysterious Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a man with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a real disease that causes extremely brittle bones, almost as brittle as glass.
This movie is often referred to as the “ultimate superhero movie” because of the realistic portrayal of every character, the in-depth symbolism used throughout the film, the decent acting and the steadily intriguing storyline. One of my favorite aspects of this film is the symbolism; the colors point to specific aspects of the characters, their alignments and their purpose in the story. If you don’t enjoy the movie for whatever reason, at least you will learn a little about color symbolism in comics.
Fun Fact: Marvel comics, which are seen as bright and happy, tend to have bright colors on the covers, but darker colors inside; DC comics, which are seen as dark and sorrowful, tend to have dark colored covers, but much brighter colors inside.
The main plot of this film has many functioning parts: a son who wants to be just like his dad, a man who discovers his life is not completely in his own hands, a man desperate to find purpose and a wife who just wants to live a happy and normal life. There are many unforeseeable twists and turns that will make this movie not seem so slow, but you will have to pay attention the whole way through, so be prepared.
This movie made an impressive $30 million opening weekend and $94 million overall, while wielding a comfortable $75 million budget. This was the most recent movie M. Night Shyamalan directed before “Split”.
Now I’m sure you are wondering why you haven’t heard of this movie if it’s so great, right? Well, to be honest, it bores the heck out of a lot of people, such as my baby boomer grandparents. Many people don’t have the patients or attention span to sit down for an hour and forty-six-minute-long superhero movie with only one semi-fight scene. This movie is good, but not for everyone. If you like Bruce Willis, deep stories or superhero movies that aren’t totally mainstream (*cough* “Avengers” *cough*), then this movie just might be for you.