Split is one of my absolute favorite M. Night Shyamalan films and with today's release of Glass, the connection between the former and this movie, I decided it was finally time to see what the commotion was about. Unfortunately, I found Unbreakable to be a very underwhelming drama and thriller that barely passes as a superhero movie. Despite the effective directing and signature twist, I found the story to be mediocre at best. I wanted to be blown away by this narrative and its setup for Shyamalan's shared universe, but I was definitely disappointed by the tame and domestic nature of this entire film.
Unbreakable follows two men who couldn't appear to be any more different: the strong-willed and reclusive David Dunn, played by Bruce Willis and the manipulative and sociopathic Elijah Price, played by Samuel L. Jackson. These two men's lives intersect as it is revealed that Elijah has been searching his whole life for someone on the opposite end of the physical spectrum as him. He suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease that makes his entire body, especially his bones, as brittle as glass. On the other end, David Dunn discovers his ability to not be hurt by anything, as proven by his lifetime of good fortune in multiple accidents. The best parts of this entire film are the performances from these two and their developed relationship. Jackson's eclectic knowledge of comic books and their history make for a very interesting personality trait that was undoubtedly ahead of its time. Despite superheroes not being a new trend when this film was released, the idea of a shared universe was still a few years off. The fact that Price has such an intimate relationship with the history of this form of media is so engaging and helps to further this narrative in an exciting way; of course, aided by Jackson's stern yet relatable portrayal of the character. David Dunn is this film's main protagonist and Willis plays him just as well as he's played every other action film character: monotone yet strangely believable and emotional when the scene desperately calls for it. Willis was not bad by any means, but I feel as if he was only cast due to his stardom and already close working relationship with Shyamalan.
The writing and directing in this film seem to be its main issue and I feel as if this movie has a premise that could have been explored much deeper. The story of Dunn and Price are owned neither by Marvel or DC, which gave way for Shyamalan to focus more on the grounded background story of the two. However, I don't feel as if this worked because the lack of action and any kind of rising events made this feel like more of a dull, origin story. I did like this narrative a lot, as there is some fantastic dialogue and interactions between characters, such as the rekindled love of Dunn and his wife, but this movie can not tell which genre it is aiming to be. If it truly was a superhero film, I feel as if there would be much more focus on Dunn and coming to terms with his powers, but since this film is mostly a thriller, that aspect took hold of the main story. And even for a thriller, the pacing of the movie was tedious at best. Dunn struggled to accept his powers the whole movie, which was practically his entire arc, until of course, he goes out on his first rescue mission. The only interesting part of this movie's abrupt ending was the trademark twist that Price had murdered all of those innocent people in order to get to Dunn. Eduardo Serra's cinematography also intrigued me, as it was definitely this movie's most interesting technical aspect. His use of constant movement and long takes made for some very cool shots with masterful framing techniques.
While many fans of this shared universe of films will be undoubtedly excited for Glass, I will be seeing it solely for critique (and James McAvoy, of course). Unbreakable is a film with an incredibly interesting idea that was never fully fleshed out; an origin story with no idea where to take its characters next at a painfully dull pace.
My Rating: ★★★
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