Shyamalan haunts again with gripping 'Unbreakable'

Unbreakable *** (out of four stars) Drama/Thriller, 106 minutes Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright Penn. Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan A Blinding Edge Pictures/Limited Edition Productions/Touchstone Pictures Presentation. Contains some disturbing violent content

JAKARTA (JP): When the 30-year-old director made the phenomenally clever, highly acclaimed The Sixth Sense last year, many thought M. Night Shyamalan had really established himself as a remarkable filmmaker.

Naturally, some others thought that the man had merely come up with a fluke and would soon fall on his merry behind. Well, the director proves the latter wrong with his new, equally clever Unbreakable.

The director's latest effort is a masterfully crafted piece and the kind of film which will stay in your head long after you leave the movie theater.

Shyamalan again uses his The Sixth Sense star Bruce Willis whose star has yet to fade away in the lead role. He plays an unhappy former college football star David Dunn who decided to end his football career after a near fatal car accident made him unable to play again (or did it?).

His marriage is on the brink of collapse when he travels to New York City to be a security guard, a job that he also does in his hometown Philadelphia.

When he returns home on an express train, the train derails just outside Philadelphia, killing all the passengers except him.

In David's confusion about how he has survived the horrible accident let alone escaping totally unharmed, an owner of a rare comic book gallery, Elijah Price, comes to him and asks him how many days of his life he has been sick.

Elijah is an intelligent man who suffers from a rare condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, which makes his bones brittle. He believes David is somehow connected with him at the other end of a curve, with an opposite condition to him, where David can not easily get hurt.

Strangely, David cannot recall how many times he has been sick so he asks his wife Megan (Robin Wright Penn).

She also does not recall that he has ever been sick.

Elijah, a comic book fanatic, then tries to convince David that David has an extraordinary power and that he is destined to protect other people.

Elijah then asks why David chose to be a security guard.

David cannot answer the question and eventually tries to recall his past.

Meanwhile, Elijah also tries to prove that his theory is right.

The rest of the story is too precious to give away, with an ending which is surprising; even if you believed you were prepared for anything after watching the shocking conclusion of The Sixth Sense.

The film works on several levels. As a drama, there are a lot of emotional moments contained in this truly absorbing film. It also succeeds in telling a gripping superhero story without spectacular fighting scenes and showy special effects. I am a fan of fantasy/superhero films but between the loud X-Men and the quiet Unbreakable, I would choose the latter any day.

Comic book fans will also get a kick out of the often-hard-to- explain craze about superhero comic books, which always seem to tell the same story about good versus evil.

As a suspense film, there are several moments which will have many jumping from their seats.

There is, however, one particular scene which will evoke different responses in audiences.

At one point, David's son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), in his confusion, is about to shoot David to prove that his father cannot get hurt. It is supposed to be a heart-pounding, suspenseful scene, but instead, during a screening at a local theater here, many in the audience found it funny and laughed heartily.

If there are some people who find the ending a letdown from the emotion which the film has built from the beginning, it is not because the ending cheats the audience but it is just not perfectly timed. Otherwise, it is an excellent finale, just like The Sixth Sense.

As in his previous film, Shyamalan opted not to offer busy scenes to make gripping sequences, even when the opportunity presents itself, such as when the train derails.

The film offers several wonderful performances, particularly from Jackson who is well known as a tough man whether as a preaching, sadistic hit man in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction or as a tough, streetwise cop in John Singleton's update of Shaft. In Unbreakable, Jackson succeeds in making audiences forget his earlier roles and believe that he is a fragile and bitter man.

Wright-Penn is also believable as Dunn's alienated wife who tries to rebuild her relationship with her husband.

As in The Sixth Sense, the child role in Unbreakable also works perfectly. Spencer Treat Clark who plays David's son is convincing as the confused boy, although you do not have to compare him with The Sixth Sense's Haley Joel Osment.

Unbreakable reassures moviegoers that the director's future films are something to look forward to.

Watch the film, but please do not give away its secret to anyone. (Joko E. H. Anwar)