The re-teaming of Bruce Willis and director M. Night Shaymalan. They struck gold with The Sixth Sense – can they do it again in Unbreakable?
Philadelphia security guard David Dunn is travelling home by train from New York, chatting up a pretty woman sitting next to him. At his home, his son, flicking through the TV channels, sees to his horror that his Dad's train has derailed; David is the only survivor, and there's not a scratch on him. This brings him to the attention of Elijah Price, a wealthy, eccentric art gallery owner specialising in original comic book art; Elijah was born with broken arms and legs; he is prone to accident and illness. And he thinks David may be his opposite – unbreakable.
After the formidable critical and commercial success of his first film, The Sixth Sense, writer/producer/director M. Night Shyamalan's new film, again starring Bruce Willis, also explores the supernatural, but to lesser effect. There's no doubt that Shyamalan is a gifted filmmaker; with the considerable assistance of cinemtographer Eduardo Serra he gives many sequences in the film, including the brilliant opening on the train, an amazing depth and tension. It's his own screenplay that lets him down; from a highly promising start, the film descends into silliness, and the sillier it gets the more seriously it takes itself – seldom have I attended a preview screening in which so many people were laughing at scenes that weren't supposed to be funny.
Unbreakable is worth seeing for many reasons; but in the end it's a disappointment.
