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'Unbreakable' ticks like a jeweled watch until a final shock makes it golden By
Natalie Larson
It seems simple enough, almost predictable. It's a smooth, yet exciting ride with a few bumps but nothing extreme. When the end is in sight, no apprehension is felt because the end of this journey is already decided. Then suddenly out of the darkness a shadow catches the traveler off-guard. A quick jab, a thrust and a twist leaves the audience watching Unbreakable reeling from the shock of the extreme surprise of the ending. The well-planned plot of this movie puts it a cut above its competition. It unravels with small surprises throughout, but the final scene is so unexpected, yet so logical in retrospect, that this film deserves a high "A" for its ingenuity. The style is much like that of Sixth Sense starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment. This similarity is due to having the same writer and director for both movies, M. Night Shyamalan. Willis co-stars in Unbreakable with Samuel L. Jackson; both do an outstanding job with their roles. It is a surprise, however, to see Jackson with hair and Willis without. Jackson plays an obsessed comic book lover named Elijah Price. He is born with a disease that leaves his bones extremely weak and prone to injury. His obsession leads him to believe there is a hero with superhuman qualities that make him invulnerable. This is where David Dunn enters, played by Willis. David is an ex-college football star and security guard who walks away unscathed from a horrific train accident as the only survivor. David can't remember ever being sick or injured. He has premonitions about people who have committed crimes. And he can bench press more than 500 pounds. Basically, he's the opposite of Elijah, and just what he has been searching for. The story-line follows Elijah's efforts to convince David that he is hero he has been searching for. There is a constant surreal feeling through the whole movie that helps the audience better understand David's own misgivings about the loop fate has thrown him. The sets and costumes seem like something from The Matrix at times, adding to the surreal effect. There is one scene towars the end of the movie where David finds a family who have been victimized by a psychotic killer that was extremely disturbing and makes this film inadvisable for younger viewers. Without the twist at the end, this movie would still have been excellent and recommendable. With that final punch, this movie leaps to a higher level that makes it worthy of being put on the to-buy-when-it's-on-video list.
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