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Today's Date is:

Unbreakable


Reviewed by: Justin Sallows
Genre: Science Fiction
Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1 Widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS
Language: English, French
Subtitle: English, Spanish
Length: 1hr 47mins
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: June 26, 2001
Studio: Touchstone
Commentary: None
Documentaries: None
Featurettes: 2, "The Making of Unbreakable" (14 min.); "Comic Books and Super heroes" (18 min.)
Filmography/Biography: None
Interviews: None
Trailers/TV Spots: 1 Trailer
Alternate/Deleted Scenes: 7
Music Video: None
Other: Train Station multi-angle with choice of score, effects or dialogue , "Night's first action sequence"
Cast and Crew: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robyn Wright Penn, Spencer Treat Clark
Screenplay by: Written by: M. Knight Shyamalan
Produced by: M. Knight Shyamalan, Gary Barber, Barry Mendel
Directed By: M. Knight Shyamalan
Music: James Newton Howard
The Review: This film is a good counterpart to The Sixth Sense. The tone is very similar. The mood and the performances are dark and brooding. This along with huge leaps in logic unravel this film before we get to the ending. However, it is beautifully shot, and it is a very compelling idea. At the end I wanted more, but I'm not sure if I wanted a sequel or a better version of the film I had just seen. David Dunne is a security guard at a football stadium going home on a train when it wrecks. We don't see the wreck, which was a little dissapointing, only the aftermath. This was a creepy scene in which a Doctor tries to ascertain why everyone on the the train is dead or dying except David, who is unharmed. We see Dr.'s working on someone covered with a sheet in the foreground during David's questioning. He is watching as blood spreads over the sheet. This is a good example of where this film is going. David is on a journey of discovery. He will find out who he is, and what he must do with his life. We are also given a backstory to Samuel Jackson's character, Elijah Price. This is the story of a child with a rare bone disorder which causes them to break at the slightest bit of pressure. As an adult, Elijah is a wealthy and eccentric "comic art" dealer in David's home town of Philidelphia. Because of his interest in super heroes, he approaches David, thinking that maybe he is one, or could be one. I won't spoil the story by going any further into the plot. This is a ambitious but ultimately flawed piece. How much you enjoy it depends on how much you're willing to overlook. David spends much of the film trying to figure out if he's ever been sick. Do you know what a sore throat feels like? If not, then I guess you've never been sick. There is also an almost rediculous scene where Davids son holds him at gunpoint. I had a hard time beleiving that any boy who really loved their father, especially one as devoted as this character, would ever threaten to shoot them out of the blue just to see if the bullit would bounce off. My major problem was in the pacing. This film kind of drags with endless exposition. Things we catch onto immediately are explored at length. Also the little kids whines and cries like a little girl to a grating extent. However, the last 15 minutes are great and are exactly what we were waiting for. But then it's over very quickly. I'd say this film has a 1 hour and 3 minute first act, 10 minute second act, and a 5 minute third act. The first act is so long that you're gearing up for a grand middle and end that instead zips by. Although I do want a sequel, that I'm sure will never come to fruition, I really wanted this film to be a complete story that did'nt drag all the way to its lightning conclusion.
Image and Sound This is a good, but not excellent transfer. Bright scenes come off crystal clear, but the plethora of dark scenes begin to fall apart in the black spots. Colors are well contrasted and no compression artifacts were present. I found little evidence of grain, except in the aforementioned black spots. All in all a quality transfer, but I thought an entire disc devoted only to the film itself, without even a commentary, would have cleaned up those black spots. There isn't a lot of need for expansive sound fields in Unbreakable. This is a dialogue driven film. there are no explosions, there are no special effects. The train station and football stadium do well with the surround however. Check out the scene when Elijah falls down the stairs, I winced with every crack. I don't have a DTS decoder, but taking into the account the limited scope of the film, I'm not sure it would make that much difference.
The Extras So this is "Vista Series". Well, the packaging is nice. Don't get me wrong, the features were fine, but did they really need a second disc? 2-disc sets are becoming more and more common, and this set is only the most recent example of one that could have fit on two. You get two featurettes, a little over 1/2 an hour combined, seven deleted scenes, and a storyboard comparison. Well heck that sounds like a 2 disc "Vista Series" to me! were's the commentary 'fer cryin' out loud? I'm not saying that every release needs everything, but when you launch a whole new line of DVD "excellence", and these fair but paultry suppliments deserve their own seperate disc, what does that tell you? First of all it tells me that DTS is a real hog. Secondly it tells me "It's all in the packaging". I've read several other's reviews and they are exstatic with all the bonus features on the second disc. I'm still looking for them. The first doc is very EPK. They seperate the film into headings like "casting" and "location" then get one or two guys snippets on that topic, then away to the next. The material is good, it's just short. Sam, Bruce and Night are interviewed as well as others. The second doc is the best thing about this set. This delves into comic bookdom with stars like Frank Miller (Batman: Year One) who tell us their take on superheros and their place in the comic world. The deleted scenes range from interesting to stupid. The second weightlifting scene sticks in my mind as a fun one, but is so redundant I'm glad it was cut. Then there is the scene where David's wife and boy are awaiting news of his status after the crash. This is genuinely painful to watch. Robyn comes back from a candy machine and sits next to the boy on the bench. She offers him a beverage. He ignores her. She offers him some chips. He ignores her. One by one she continues to offer him everything in her hands, then talks about carrot cake. He doesn't like raisens, so she offers to take the raisens out. See what I mean? Absolutely painful, it's so bad. There's also a horrrible, horrible segment from a childhood home movie a la The Sixth Sense. I wish this was a very well hidden easter egg. I'll say it again, all of this could have easily fit on one disc.
Commentary What commentary?
Final Words: Unbreakable is a film that succeeds or fails on what you are willing to forgive. I can forgive a lot. Maybe it's my affinity for the genre he is honoring, or my appreciation for Bruce and Sam (it sure ain't the kid). Although I kept staring at the counter on my player wondering when stuff was going to start happening, when it did I was very satisfied. This is my second forray into the DTS rant, and I'm sure it's not the last. At least until I get a decoder, then I'll probably talk about how awesome it is. Until that day, I say "quit crowding out our features onto a second disc so that it doesn't fit in my rack!" I'm giving them a hard time, but the set is fairly good. The transfer isn't perfect, but few are. I think that I wanted this film to be more of what I thought it should be, but I want a sequel too!


Send all Comments to Teakwood Productions
 July 4, 2001