Review of Unbreakable

Introduction

You know the story, right? Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, a seemingly average family man who goes unharmed in a train crash. Samuel L. Jackson is the one who discovers this miracle and sows the seed in David Dunn`s mind about being "Unbreakable". This starts the journey for Dunn to discover his identity and purpose in life. As you might gather, this isn`t an action movie, it`s more character and plot driven. So the writing in this case has to be very good to sustain it since there aren`t any special effects par se to hold it upright. It achieves its aim without any trouble at all; this is a well written movie with good dialogue. I certainly found it to be thought provoking.

Bruce Willis is very endearing as David Dunn, and we watch this story unfold with a nice and even pace through to the climactic finale. The build up to discovering who he is and where he fits in, a search nearly all of us can identify with, is intriguing. This is a very appealing story, the birth of a Superhero. And it fits neatly into the typical `hero archetype`.

There are lots of long takes used in the film and it`s quite noticable. This just goes to show the strong performances from the cast. I love the way the camera follows people, giving us a sense of being involved in what`s happening. Plus the way the camera is used is quite effective, the reflections, the tension, and an almost Hitchcockian style play with the onscreen characters.

The colours set the tone for the film while James Newton Howard`s amazing score underlies the story in all the right places. This can get somewhat emotional along the way, and I found myself immersed in Shyamalan`s world. As a result of this, I did have some sympathy with Samuel L. Jackson`s character, Elijah Price, despite his actions in the story.

When it ended, I simply wanted more. I look forward to seeing how this story will unfold in later parts. Good ultimately prevailing over bad, it`s what a superhero story is all about and Unbreakable has all the right elements to start a franchise. I just hope it goes from strength to strength. One continuity error, but it`s really so minor and I won`t bother noting it here, it won`t spoil any part of the film whatsoever! :-)

Video

Video is sharp and well presented as anamorphic 2.35:1. There were minor signs of compression in the opening shots, but it really is minor. The contrast and colour used is just right for this movie. It`s vibrant and sharp with nice blacks. The use of colour is deliberate and goes hand in hand with the way the story unfolds, it`s cleverly done and enhances a repeated viewing.

Audio

Beautiful and haunting music from James Newton Howard which is really superbly composed for the film. You have a choice of DTS or DD5.1 and both sound good. Dialogue is crisp and clear at all times while the effects are spot on when needed. Even now the music is still playing in my head a few days after watching this movie, and I can`t wait to get my hands on the soundtrack. It`s awesome.

Features

Does this need to be on two discs? Well, considering the picture and sound quality, perhaps it does need an additional disc to house the extras. Unbreakable has nice animated menus and music. Disc one has just audio setup, subtitling and scene selection. Disc two has all the supplemental features. This second disc makes for compulsory viewing once you`ve watched the main feature as there`s all kinds of things that are talked about that add more to the story and you`ll hear about the intentions of the movie. Not to mention there`s the multi-angle feature and deleted scenes too. The latter presented by Night. Lastly but not least is the 20min documentary on Comic Books and Superheroes. I found it all very interesting. Plus all the extras are anamorphically produced.

It`s a shame there`s no film commentary from the cast or crew, I do like to listen to what people have to say while the movie`s playing because for the most part it gives an interesting insight into the production. I guess all the other extras featured here does go someway to filling in for lack of a commentary track. This is quite slick for a Touchstone DVD, the packaging is good, with black and blues in a cool slipcase.

Conclusion

A lot of people compared this film to Shyamalan`s previous outing, The Sixth Sense. These only share one aspect of the story telling, the rest however is different. I think Unbreakable is his best film yet. The Sixth Sense was good, but I thought it was a little overrated. Unbreakable however is a very well crafted and captivating story with strong performances from Willis and Jackson and makes for repeated viewing. The music is gorgeous and adds atmosphere while the picture here is top notch too. I`ve seen this movie a few times now and have enjoyed it on all occasions. If you enjoyed The Sixth Sense and haven`t yet seen Unbreakable, give it a spin and I`m sure you`ll be pleasantly surprised. This film is well worth getting hold of if you want to try something a little different.