There are people that absolutely love
Unbreakable and there are people that absolutely hate it. I've had countless discussions with friends over the years and I've listened to their opinions about it, good and bad. In the end, I fall somewhere in the middle and I will reiterate here what I usually tell them. But first, I will say that I have no problem with the characters or the actors in the film.
Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and
Robin Wright are great. Even the plot or story itself isn't the issue for me either. No, my problem with this one is
M. Night Shyamalan.
I can't think of any other film maker in the history of cinema that became trapped by the success after their debut (
The Sixth Sense). Ever since that film's big twist ending, he has constantly felt the need to ride the same pony and deliver the "twist" or that people will be disappointed. I can get past the incredibly slow pace of the film, which has a tendency to drag in a few spots throughout the movie. It's the ending that just continually fails me every time and it just shows that
M. Night Shyamalan is a lazy writer and director. I seriously doubt he ever did a rewrite after his first draft, because had he done so he would have seen that there isn't any "rah-rah" moments in the film and that the ending would basically collapse on itself because it doesn't deliver. I don't even think the moment that
David Dunn (Willis) confronts the 'Orange Jumpsuit" bad guy as a moment the viewer will savor.
Honestly, this isn't much more than a
Rental, even though I own the
Vista Series. I don't watch it much. I think this is maybe my 4th or 5th time watching it since originally seeing it in the theater. Not sure why I keep thinking that the next time I play it on DVD that it will play better for me....storywise. FYI, this movie definitely falls under the 'Superhero' umbrella, even if it doesn't look like one on the outside.