Unbreakable

Details: Movie Name: Unbreakable                MPAA Rating: PG-13               Release Date: November 14, 2000               Cast: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Treat Clark, Robin Wright

Synopsis: Unbreakable is the first film in M. Night Shyamalan's trilogy of movies, AKA: The Eastrail 177 trilogy. It is about David Dunn (Bruce Willis), who is the sole survivor in a train wreck. He stumbles upon a strange theory that he is "unbreakable" and Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), helps him train and use his abilities for good. 

Pros: This film is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated films out there. As I was reading the reviews, this movie had so much shade, and negativity thrown towards it, that I didn't want to watch it for the longest time. Finally, I forced myself to ignore all the bad reviews (and trust me, there was a lot), and watch the movie. After finishing the movie, I was astonished. The movie was great. One thing M. Night does really well is naming the movie. What I mean by this is, reading the premise of the movie, you might think that the movie is called unbreakable because of the protagonist's powers, but I feel like the title of the film also is about Dunn's will, and how, even though he faced all this trauma with the train wreck, he still perseveres. Not only do his bones never break, but neither does his will. I know this sounds super cheesy, but M. Night shows that you should always push forward, because you have so many things to be thankful for. The second positive thing I can say about this movie is the suspense that is built up. Although the movie is a little slow (as I will talk about in a little bit), the director really does do a good job of building up David Dunn's life. This way, the audience has a strong, empathetic, relationship with Dunn, and they feel for him along his whole journey. This even makes the horrific discovery that is discovered in the third act, even more horrific for the audience because of the relationship built between David and the audience.

Cons: Although I said this movie was underrated and that it isn't so bad, that doesn't mean that everything about it is good. Like I mentioned in the pros section, the movie is a little bit too slow. The beginning hooks you, but then the rest of the first act and the second act is a little bit dull. An hour into the movie, I kind of felt myself dozing off a little. Thankfully the third act pulls you right back into the story. Another minor con I would like to point out is the ending of the film. M. Night drops a humongous bombshell of an ending that leaves the audience shook, but doesn't deliver it properly. He does this thing where instead of narration, he'll put words on the screen and then lets the audience read it. This is delivered after the big twist and it essentially gives the aftermath of the movie, and sets up the events for "Glass" but after such a big ending/ twist, those dull, white words, makes the ending less authentic. If I were M. Night, I would have started rolling credits right after the twist, not put narrate what happens and let the viewer imagine it. Like I said, it is pretty minor, but it bothered me nonetheless. 

 Rating:  I would give this film, 7.5 out of 10 stars  Final Thoughts:  This film is suspenseful, gripping, and although a little bit slow at times, delivers an amazing third act. I would recommend this movie to fans of Bruce Willis or fans of suspense and M. Night. 

Thank you for reading this review. Like always let me know what you think of my review as I'm striving to make this website better. Also stay tuned for the next two movie reviews of this series. :-)0

Unbreakable Movie Poster