Writer & director M. Night Shyamalan's fourth film
"Unbreakable" refers to its protagonist, football stadium security
guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) who has been born with an almost perfect body
because his bones cannot be broken. Far less introspective and surprising than
the enigmatic "Sixth Sense," this atmospheric melodrama depicts the
friendship between Dunn and an African-American, Elijah Price, nicknamed Mr.
Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), who suffers from an unusual bone disease designated
'Osteogenesis Imperfecta.' Basically, 'Osteogenesis Imperfecta' is a genetic
disorder where bones break easily. In other words, Glass' surname reflects the
extremely fragile nature of his body. The first scene in
"Unbreakable" details the birth of Mr. Glass in a department store
apparel fitting room. One of the men who
takes charge of the infant discovers to his horror that the little boy's arms
and legs are misshapen from where he fought to get out of his mother's womb.
Later, we learn that Mr. Glass has become obsessed with comic book superheroes.
Shrewdly, his mother (Charlayne Woodard of
“The Crucible”) used comics to coax her son out of the seclusion of their
apartment. Glass becomes a leading authority on comic books as well as the
characteristics of super heroes and super villains. He represents a strong villain
because he reckons if he occupies one end of the spectrum then an 'unbreakable'
hero occupies the other end. In his fiendish efforts to find the other end of
the spectrum, Mr. Glass commits incorrigible crimes which eventually land him
in a mental asylum. For example, he engineers a train wreck where everybody on
board dies, except for our protagonist David Dunn.
Eventually, Mr. Glass catches up with David after his
miraculous survival without a broken bone makes news’ headlines as the sole
survivor of the deadly train wreck. Moreover,
he takes a bizarre interest in him that Dunn doesn't reciprocate. Nevertheless, David’s curiosity prompts him to
search for information about his health that he has taken for granted. For example, he has never missed a day at
work owing to illness. Later, he
realizes that he was never injured in an accident that broke his future wife’s
leg. After the wreck, David cites an injury
that convinced him from pursuing a promising career in college football. His wife, Audrey Dunn (Robin Wright of
"Forrest Gump"), is relieved to learn David has decided to hang up
his cleats. Glass' inquiries arouses the
curiosity of David's son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark of "Gladiator")
who loads up more free weights than David thinks possible to press and winds up
impressing both of them. David pushes
350 pounds! Later, when Joseph is
convinced that his father cannot be hurt by flying lead, a standoff occurs in
the kitchen with Joseph threatening his dad with a revolver at point blank
range. Of course, neither David nor his terrified wife Audrey believe that he
is invincible where bullets are concerned, and they manage to persuade Joseph
to put the pistol down. Reportedly, when
George Reeves portrayed the Man of Steel on the television program “Superman,”
a child approached him with a gun during a public appearance and tried to shoot
him, but Reeves talked him out of it. He
warned him that the bullet might ricochet off him and wound somebody else.
The $75-million "Unbreakable" boils down to your
basic clash of the titans. Mr. Glass has spent his entire life searching for
David. Initially, David refuses to believe anything about him made him special. After the tragic train accident, David has
second thoughts. One scene demonstrates
both of David's two usual capabilities. A maniac forces his way into a
residential home, kills the husband, ties up the two children, assaults the
wife, and leaves her tied up with bleeding wrists. Meantime, David has the
power of insight that enables him to tell who constitutes a threat to the
public. Glass is on hand at the football stadium when David displays this power.
Scrutinizing the spectators filing into
the stadium, David points out a suspicious character wearing a cameo shirt. Our protagonist suspects this fellow may be packing
a pistol out-of-sight under his shirt. At the last minute, the suspicious
fellow steps out of line. Desperately
Mr. Glass pursues him and falls down a stairway in his efforts to learn if he
was toting a firearm which matched David's description. Indeed, this suspicious
guy was carrying a concealed weapon! Later,
David spots a maintenance man. They
brush past each other, and David follows him to the house where the husband
lies dead and the children are tied up. David
attacks the maintenance man and gets his arms around his neck. The maniac slams David repeatedly against
walls, smashing up those walls, but he cannot dislodge David who keeps him in a
choke hold until the brute loses consciousness.
At first, David and his family didn’t trust Elijah, and they classified
him as a nuisance. Their attitude changes, and the two become friends, until
the final quarter of the action, when Elijah reveals his true colors, and David
realizes that Elijah poses a threat. He
orchestrated three terrorist attacks in an effort to find the man at the other
in of the spectrum. Once, David recognizes
Glass as a threat, he alerts the authorities.
Clocking in at 106 minutes, “Unbreakable” seems to take
forever to unfold. The ending is a
let-down because Glass and David never tangle, but the character-driven action
is momentarily engrossing until it concludes with an anti-climactic situation.
Bruce Willis delivers a beautifully restrained performance, and he behaves just
as we suspect a normal person would. The
scene on the train before the accident is liable to draw the wrath of married
women. David removes his wedding ring
and makes a play for a female passenger who sits beside him. Samuel L. Jackson is just as good as Elijah but
never really seems menacing enough. Despite
the strong character study of two rivals, “Unbreakable” is by its dreary pace
and its anti-climactic ending.
