For fans like me, the movie is unbeatable; for non-fans, it may be unbearable.
There is also the problem in the film that viewers familiar with "The Sixth Sense" will every minute be anticipating some kind of surprise. This is the price Shyamalan must pay for his previous success. Rather than just following the story line as viewers normally would, they may be spending half their time trying to figure out in advance what the big plot switch is inevitably going to be, what new and startling revelation is going to come. Such prospects begin to distract a person from the actual goings on.
Additionally, there may be two final shortcomings for some viewers: Bruce Willis's portrayal of the protagonist and the film's slow pace. Willis is unrelentingly grim throughout the movie, never smiling once that I can remember, and Shyamalan's direction tends to linger over details and take its leisurely time coming to a point.
However, I did find the film posing any serious problems. I found its acting fine, as well as its direction, costume design, and musical score. Willis again proves what a compelling dramatic actor he is, playing a man caught up in emotions, desires, and attractions well beyond his initial understanding. Jackson is at home playing the off-kilter Elijah. He blends a slightly sinister demeanor with a frail appearance, a dash of insecurity with a load of confidence. Penn and Clark as the wife and child are solid in their characterizations, too, although I thought the marital problems David and Audrey were having began to get in the way of the story's main events. Then, too, Shyamalan's pacing may appear slow, but it rivets one's attention in any case, the sense of pressure and suspense mounting at an escalating tempo. It's only when the movie is over that you realize that not a lot has actually happened.
As for the costumes, note how a simple rain parka takes on mythic proportions. And James Newton Hoard's music lends an appropriately distinctive quality to the proceedings, at once spooky, atmospheric, and unique. Finally, look for a Hitchcock-like cameo appearance by the director, playing a suspected drug dealer at the football stadium. Yet, as I've said, while "Unbreakable" works in most areas, it may not please everyone. A matter of one's expectations going in, I suppose.
Put it this way: "Unbreakable" is to the oeuvre of M. Night Shyamalan what "The Twelve Chairs" is to the collected works of Mel Brooks; it's the one that got away, the one most folks tend to forget or overlook, while it may be one of their best.
Video:
I wasn't particularly keen on the image quality in the original DVD transfer a few years ago, finding it only so-so despite its 2.35:1, widescreen, anamorphic, THX rendering. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when switching back and forth between the DVD and the Blu-ray disc that the MPEG4/AVC BD mastering didn't have the clearest or most vivid picture quality I've seen in a high-definition release. Although everything about the BD video is better and more sharply delineated than its DVD equivalent, with deeper, richer colors as well, I still found the overall Blu-ray image a little dull, sometimes a little fuzzy, with faintly blurry, yet sometimes slightly enhanced edges. I'm thinking the director purposely wanted to avoid a bright, sharp, glossy finish to this product, and several shots are even done as reflections in glass. To the good, there is only the lightest print grain. Still, because of the nature of the production, "Unbreakable" may not be the very best demo material for high-def, yet it looks good enough not to disappoint fans.
Audio:
The audio choices in English are uncompressed PCM 5.1 or regular Dolby Digital 5.1. Needless to say, the uncompressed track is quite good and never exaggerated. The sonics are dynamic and robust, the bass deep, with good midrange clarity and surround sound, when it's present, that is all-encompassing. Music, crowd noises, trains, rain, water, all envelop us in their sphere, although, to be honest, there aren't a lot of sequences that utilize it much. Because there are very few special effects in the film, at least no elaborate ones, the sound gets a chance to reinforce the reality of David's world rather than go for spectacle, which will delight some listeners and dissatisfy others who are expecting more. This is a film more interested in the quiet moments than the bombastic ones.
Extras:
For special features, Buena Vista offer pretty much the same things they did in their two-disc DVD "Vista Series" set. First up, we find a fourteen-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, with the actors, director, and other filmmakers comment on the film ; a nineteen-minute "Comic Books and Superheroes" featurette, with interviews of comic-book artists and writers like Will Eisner, Denny O'Neil, Frank Miller, and a slew of others; seven deleted scenes, about twenty-nine minutes, with the director introducing each selection; a multi-angle train station sequence, where you can shift between the final footage and the original storyboards; and a home movie of Night's first fight sequence, which he shot when he was a kid. As in the DVD set, there is no audio commentary by any of the filmmakers accompanying the feature and no theatrical trailer.
The extras wrap up with twenty-eight scene selections and a chapter list that shows through the inside of the front cover; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; English captions for the hearing impaired; and on-screen menus.
Parting Thoughts:
"Unbreakable" is undoubtedly a controversial film that seems like it's doing a lot more and going a lot further as you're watching it than when you're thinking about it afterwards. It will not appeal to everybody, but it's one I found personally rewarding, most particularly for its remarkable characterizations and those quiet tensions I mentioned earlier. In fact, if you found "The Sixth Sense" too gimmicky, then you might find "Unbreakable" Shyamalan's very best film. Or his worst; it's a strange affair. For fans like me, the movie is unbeatable; for non-fans, it may be unbearable.
In "Unbreakable" the filmmaker doesn't have a lot to say that isn't too obvious, but I like the way he says it.
Additionally, there may be two final shortcomings for some viewers: Bruce Willis's portrayal of the protagonist and the film's slow pace. Willis is unrelentingly grim throughout the movie, never smiling once that I can remember, and Shyamalan's direction tends to linger over details and take its leisurely time coming to a point.
However, I did find the film posing any serious problems. I found its acting fine, as well as its direction, costume design, and musical score. Willis again proves what a compelling dramatic actor he is, playing a man caught up in emotions, desires, and attractions well beyond his initial understanding. Jackson is at home playing the off-kilter Elijah. He blends a slightly sinister demeanor with a frail appearance, a dash of insecurity with a load of confidence. Penn and Clark as the wife and child are solid in their characterizations, too, although I thought the marital problems David and Audrey were having began to get in the way of the story's main events. Then, too, Shyamalan's pacing may appear slow, but it rivets one's attention in any case, the sense of pressure and suspense mounting at an escalating tempo. It's only when the movie is over that you realize that not a lot has actually happened.
As for the costumes, note how a simple rain parka takes on mythic proportions. And James Newton Hoard's music lends an appropriately distinctive quality to the proceedings, at once spooky, atmospheric, and unique. Finally, look for a Hitchcock-like cameo appearance by the director, playing a suspected drug dealer at the football stadium. Yet, as I've said, while "Unbreakable" works in most areas, it may not please everyone. A matter of one's expectations going in, I suppose.
Put it this way: "Unbreakable" is to the oeuvre of M. Night Shyamalan what "The Twelve Chairs" is to the collected works of Mel Brooks; it's the one that got away, the one most folks tend to forget or overlook, while it may be one of their best.
Video:
I wasn't particularly keen on the image quality in the original DVD transfer a few years ago, finding it only so-so despite its 2.35:1, widescreen, anamorphic, THX rendering. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when switching back and forth between the DVD and the Blu-ray disc that the MPEG4/AVC BD mastering didn't have the clearest or most vivid picture quality I've seen in a high-definition release. Although everything about the BD video is better and more sharply delineated than its DVD equivalent, with deeper, richer colors as well, I still found the overall Blu-ray image a little dull, sometimes a little fuzzy, with faintly blurry, yet sometimes slightly enhanced edges. I'm thinking the director purposely wanted to avoid a bright, sharp, glossy finish to this product, and several shots are even done as reflections in glass. To the good, there is only the lightest print grain. Still, because of the nature of the production, "Unbreakable" may not be the very best demo material for high-def, yet it looks good enough not to disappoint fans.
Audio:
The audio choices in English are uncompressed PCM 5.1 or regular Dolby Digital 5.1. Needless to say, the uncompressed track is quite good and never exaggerated. The sonics are dynamic and robust, the bass deep, with good midrange clarity and surround sound, when it's present, that is all-encompassing. Music, crowd noises, trains, rain, water, all envelop us in their sphere, although, to be honest, there aren't a lot of sequences that utilize it much. Because there are very few special effects in the film, at least no elaborate ones, the sound gets a chance to reinforce the reality of David's world rather than go for spectacle, which will delight some listeners and dissatisfy others who are expecting more. This is a film more interested in the quiet moments than the bombastic ones.
Extras:
For special features, Buena Vista offer pretty much the same things they did in their two-disc DVD "Vista Series" set. First up, we find a fourteen-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, with the actors, director, and other filmmakers comment on the film ; a nineteen-minute "Comic Books and Superheroes" featurette, with interviews of comic-book artists and writers like Will Eisner, Denny O'Neil, Frank Miller, and a slew of others; seven deleted scenes, about twenty-nine minutes, with the director introducing each selection; a multi-angle train station sequence, where you can shift between the final footage and the original storyboards; and a home movie of Night's first fight sequence, which he shot when he was a kid. As in the DVD set, there is no audio commentary by any of the filmmakers accompanying the feature and no theatrical trailer.
The extras wrap up with twenty-eight scene selections and a chapter list that shows through the inside of the front cover; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; English captions for the hearing impaired; and on-screen menus.
Parting Thoughts:
"Unbreakable" is undoubtedly a controversial film that seems like it's doing a lot more and going a lot further as you're watching it than when you're thinking about it afterwards. It will not appeal to everybody, but it's one I found personally rewarding, most particularly for its remarkable characterizations and those quiet tensions I mentioned earlier. In fact, if you found "The Sixth Sense" too gimmicky, then you might find "Unbreakable" Shyamalan's very best film. Or his worst; it's a strange affair. For fans like me, the movie is unbeatable; for non-fans, it may be unbearable.
In "Unbreakable" the filmmaker doesn't have a lot to say that isn't too obvious, but I like the way he says it.
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[release]23444[/release]