n 1961, a baby is born in the dressing room of a Philadelphia
department store, healthy except for one odd thing: his arms and legs are
broken. Flash forward to the present day: David Dunn (Willis) is riding the
Spirit of Philadelphia train back home from New York. Though
married, he flirts awkwardly with a young woman. Then--
Dunn awakes in a hospital emergency room. He is told that he is the lone
survivor of a catastrophic train derailment. The odd thing is that he
doesn't have a scratch. Dunn reunites with his loving son,
Joseph (Spencer Treat Clarke), and
estranged wife, Audrey (Penn). After attending the memorial service
for the other victims, Dunn discovers
an anonymous note on stationery marked "Limited Edition." It asks him: "How
many days of your life have you ever been sick?" Dunn
returns to his job as a university stadium security guard, but is
troubled by the question. When he seeks the answer, he discovers that no
one has a memory of his ever being ill.
With Joseph in tow, Dunn tracks down the writer of the note: Elijah Price
(Samuel L. Jackson), a comic-book fanatic and
the proprietor of a comic-book art gallery called
"Limited Edition." Price suffers from a rare ailment, osteogenesis
imperfecta, which has given him extremely brittle bones. He has suffered 54
fractures in his life and now walks with a cane. Price has developed a theory: Perhaps he has a
counterpart, someone with an unusual ability to withstand harm. He has
watched news accounts of disasters for years, waiting to hear the phrase
"lone survivor who miraculously escaped injury." He believes Dunn may be
that man, and that he may have a calling of which he's unaware.
Dunn was hoping that Price might hold the answer to something, an answer
that would remove his persistent melancholy. But instead, he believes Price
is crazy. That is, until he begins to consider the possibility that Price
may be onto something.
Shyamalan's sophomore secrets
Unbreakable is writer/director Shyamalan's much-anticipated
follow-up to his blockbuster hit, The Sixth Sense. As with the
previous movie, the filmmaker has taken great pains to keep the plot of
Unbreakable a secret to preserve its mysteries. Shyamalan
has said that the film is about faith: "that once you bring your
mind to a place of believing, things open up for you that you can't
possibly imagine." It may surprise viewers to learn exactly what he's
talking about here.
But the secrecy works to good effect. Unbreakable is full of
surprises, starting with an opening title card that contains inexplicable
details about comic-book collecting. It would be unfair to reveal other
twists and turns, except to say that Unbreakable lives up to its
predecessor with a story that defies easy categorization.
To anyone familiar with the earlier hit, Unbreakable is recognizably
the work of the same artful director. It shares the same location, the same
burnished cinematography and the same sense of gritty reality. As with The
Sixth Sense, Unbreakable also reveals its carefully constructed
story bit by bit in finely crafted scenes filled with visual and auditory
motifs. Sudden flashes of color augur important themes. A key character's
actions are foreshadowed with the use of inverted images. Price's fragility
is symbolized by often depicting him in glass reflections. The dialogue is
fresh and original.
If Unbreakable has any flaws, it is only in comparison with his
earlier work. Though Shyamalan tries again to ground the fanciful story in
the realities of a rocky marriage, Unbreakable fails to achieve the
same emotional resonance. And while Unbreakable succeeds in layering
suspenseful moments, it doesn't always pay off with the same visceral
shocks as does Sixth Sense. Indeed, though viewers may appreciate the
care with which the film has been made, others may find that some sequences
drag.
Willis gives another memorable performance as the troubled Dunn, and
Jackson disappears inside the possibly crazy, rail-thin prophet, Elijah.
Clark, who plays Dunn's son, Joseph, is adequate for the role, but he's no
Haley Joel Osment.
