Home :: DVD :: Mystery & Suspense :: Mystery  

Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem
British Mystery Theater
Classics
Crime
Detectives
Film Noir
General
Mystery

Mystery & Suspense Masters
Neo-Noir
Series & Sequels
Suspense
Thrillers
Unbreakable (Vista Series)

Unbreakable (Vista Series)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 .. 64 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than The Sixth Sense
Review: When The Sixth Sense came out, my friend saw it before I did. She strongly recommended seeing it. She also said that it has a great and surprising ending. I said Bruce Willis is probably a dead guy. She asked how I knew. I told her it was way too obvious. I figured out the movie before I even saw it. And when I did scrounge up $... to go see it, I realized I had wasted my time scrounging up the money. The Sixth Sense was a total waste of time. The kid is simply annoying. Bruce Willis' talent is wasted on this dreck.

Enter Unbreakable. Sure the movie is slow, dark, maybe a little unbelievable, (ahem, The Sixth Sense), but it is fascinating which The Sixth Sense is not. M. Night is able to get the best from Willis this time around. While there is another annoying kid in this movie, he is not as annoying as the Sixth Sense kid. ("I see dead people" Im really scared now) Samuel L. Jackson pulls an astonishing performance as Elijah Price and yes there is a surprise ending.

So while this movie will always be compared to the Sixth Sense and will lose that comparison the majority of the time (simply because sappy people felt sorry for the little brat in the Sixth Sense), this movie actually moves you and you will find yourself reverting back to your chilhood when you thought you had super powers. I think I'm going to go watch it again.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: There better be sequels
Review: I'd like to just put in one review that breaks the trend of the one star/five star pattern here. The movie isn't groundbreaking or immensely incredible, but it is not garbage either. The ending was not especially surprising (like the 6th Sense, it might have been surprising if I hadn't known there was going to be a surprise). The ending was fitting though. I think the true quality of this film (either good or bad) will be evident if the rumored sequels are made. Standing alone, the story is incomplete and leaves a lot to be desired. But if annoying Hollywood slop like Gladiator is best picture, this film didn't get the credit it deserved.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unbreakable is Unbelievable
Review: M Night Shyamalan wrote and directed "The Sixth Sense," an excelent movie to say the least. So naturally, based on previews, and the fact that "Unbreakable is also written and directed by M Night Shyamalan, I thought this would be a pretty good movie. If I were to compare these two movies, "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable," I see a common thread. They are both thought provoking movies, the best kind of movie in my book. "Unbreakable" is definately on of the best kind of movie for it is indeed thought provoking and, although it may not change your outlook on the world, it will make you stop and think about the possibilities that lie inbetween. The comic bookish movie is about a man at a crossroads in his life when the most unexpected thing happens to him. David Dunn miraculously walks away unscaved as the sole survior of a terrible train wreck. Soon after he comes to know a man whose bones shatter like glass, a man who as a child was known as Mr. Glass because of his dehibilitating genetic disease. This Mr. Glass has a question for Dunn, "Have you ever been sick?" And although Glass backs this solitary question up with a far fetched theory based on more than the comics he's read all his life, it's the question "Have you ever been sick?" that leads, or rather drives, Dunn down a path exagerated by comic books.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Willis' Best Role Yet
Review: I bought this movie the day it came out on DVD, and I enjoyed it tremendously. Bruce Willis does his best acting work yet, as an emotionally beaten down guy trying to come to terms with the fact that he may be a superhero. Spencer Treat Clark is touching, as a son who idolizes and believes in his father. The cinematography is dark and crisp, the story compelling and involving, and the movie has a great surprise ending. Be warned, you'll have to think about this movie as you watch it, or else it won't make any sense at the end. Those people who liked the movies Vertigo and Basic Instinct will like this one too.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I WAS WARNED...
Review: But I didn't listen. I wanted so badly a Sixth Sense II and didn't get it. What I got had me wanting to fast forward parts. And the big ending seemed almost insulting to me...oh well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Unbreakable
Review: Are you unbreakable? This is the question prompted by the ads for M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, Unbreakable. The film follows meek security guard David Dunn, played by Bruce Willis. His family consists of a wife that is going through a seemingly mid-life crisis and a son that idolizes his every move. David Dunn is not an ordinary man though, he is the only survivor in a horrible train wreck that kills 132 passengers. Not only is David the sole survivor, but he is also completely unharmed. On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a comic-book art dealer. Elijah has a rare genetic bone disease that makes his bones very susceptible to breakage, thus giving him the childhood nick name of "Mr. Glass." He believes that the world is essentially one big comic-book eco-system. For all those who are frail and defenseless, there are just as many of those who are essentially the hero of a comic book: strong, invincible and superhuman

in their abilities. Elijah is obsessed with his disorder and trying to understand why people like him are on this planet. He believes that since he exists as a very frail and fragile man, that there must be someone on the other end of the curve, a polar opposite. When Elijah learns of David's survival, he begins the first of many contacts with David by leaving a card on his windshield asking, "How many days of your life have you been sick?" with the obvious answer being none. As the movie advances, we as well as David learn more of Elijah's seemingly unbelievable theory on life and the balance that must lie within. Elijah feels that he and David, "seem to be linked by a curve, but sitting on opposite ends". That is all that can be said of this film's story without giving too much away. There is, however, plenty to be said of M. Night Shyamalan. In his sophomore thriller/suspense story, he fine tunes his craft with more confidence than was displayed in The Sixth Sense.

In Sense, the important symbolism was certainly a lot less subtle than it is here, not without good reason, true, but it was almost as if Shyamalan felt he was the kid in class who had to explain all of his jokes for them to be funny. Perhaps he wasn't confident enough as to whether or not his audience would understand everything he wanted to get across in the movie. But as history tells it, his audiences did get it and now he has us wrapped around his finger. The film moves with an eery, silent calm that truly plays off of David's understandably unsettling emotions. This truly is Shyamalan's show and he does an excellent job of tricking the audience and their emotions, much like he did with Sense. I like to compare Shyamalan to a really good magician; in one hand he holds a dove and in the other a quarter. Show us the quarter, wave it in front of us, move one hand over the other, add a flick of the wrist and 'poof!', the quarter has turned into a dove. This is where Shyamalan's gift lies. He puts so much artistic meaning behind his choice of shots that we as an audience are truly oblivious to anything else in the movie other than what is on the screen at that exact moment. I honestly cannot remember blinking during any of the 2 hour-plus film. This is a film about the inevitability of fate and destiny; about the rights and wrongs we look past every day of our lives and about why we were put on this earth and to serve what purpose. This film in it's purest form is essentially a wonderfully crafted slight-of-hand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unbreakable is Unbeatable
Review: This is one of the greatest movies ever made. It starts out.....wait I cant tell you anything about it or else it will ruin the movie. Its the first movie that you cant say anything about without ruining it you just have to see it. Its the best of its kind. The directing is fantastic. Thats about all I can tell you without ruining this movie all I can say is buy it if you want a great great flick!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Astonishing and Rich Film
Review: I agree with the person who indicated this film is not for everyone, and I appreciated the comparison to The Watchman.

As a long time comic book fan, I really enjoyed Unbreakable. In the tradition of some of the better thrillers and "What if. . ." films of the last several decades, Unbreakable is a film of deliberate pacing and rich production design. David Dunn (Bruce Willis), confronting Elijah's hypothesis and dealing with his own life, slowly awakens to a staggering possibility that there is more to his life. Bruce Willis is apt as an everyman who finds himself in the eye of a storm of circumstance. Willis has played similiar roles before, but I have come to see Willis as a very subtle actor, of great skill. Willis has come a long way, and has earned my respect as a performer.

Note how Willis' David does not seem to remember not being sick. Some have criticied it (wouldn't he realize. . .) but reflecting on times in my life where weeks and months go by, and you simply do not notice them. Willis effectively conveys a man sleepwalking through life, who is awakened to possibilities by a strange visitor. . .

As Elijah, Samuel L. Jackson is amazing. Elijah has loved comics his entire life, and his persona has been shaped by them. Notice his glass cane, his purple suit, his unique automobile. Elijah beautifully foreshadows the film's conclusion, and it is another fascinating performance from Samuel L. Jackson.

The overall supporting performances were good. I would like to make special mention of Charlayne Woodard, as Elijah's mother, for her extraordinary performance.

Night made a mistep or two. I felt some of his plot points to be unnecessary (the water thing was a red herring to me), and there are moments in the script that feel "off" In light of the astonishing balancing act he was doing between the fantastic and the real, Night still succeeds. As a long time comic book collector, I thank him for the respect he pays the genre, and for the experience of this rich film.

The DVD extras are very good. The documentary is detailed, and aimed at people not in the hobby. The transfer is excellent, retaining all the texture and color. Night's decisions regarding use of color in this film, and his filters are very good, and the DVD retains the richness.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Let's look at the whole movie, not just the ending
Review: One of my greatest TV moment memories wasn't a superbowl, breaking news or even memorable sit-com finale. It was Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel nearly getting into a fist fight over the film "Full Metal Jacket".

Both thought the film was brilliant and lauded it with praise. Siskel however thought that he should use a different scale to determine if he should give it a thumbs up or down. The Kubrik scale. Rather than base his rating on the merits of the film in and of itself, he decided to compare it to the director's other work. Held up to "Spartacus" or "2001" the film didn't rate a thumbs up. I believe a lot of the ratings here on Amazon are falling prey to this mentality.

Unbreakable is a wonderful ride. As a begining to a possible trilogy of films it is a magnificent introduction to the principal characters and gives great insight to their lives and beliefs. As a stand alone film it tells it's story, makes it's point and builds to an ending that at least I didn't see coming. It's not a huge revelation on par with "Sixth Sense", but this is a different film, isn't it?

The pacing is slow, true. But this is intentional on the part of the director. Unbreakable is about the possibility of superheroes existing in the real world. Here in the real world people don't wear purple spandex suits and probably wouldn't have millions of dollars at their disposal to buy jets and pnuematicly firing grappling hooks that fold into a packet on their belt. Most people here in the real world take what they do have and make the best of it and try to do good.

Shyamalan uses color well as a symbol here as is becoming his trademark. He also seems to enjoy filling most of his frames with lots of background action, choosing to shoot a lot at train stations and sporting events. This lends a lot of power to a simple two shot when he uses one. Especially when Willis and Jackson share the screen.

I guess it boils down to this. If you watch this film with no previous knowledge of Shyamalan's previous work you will undoubtedly enjoy the film, especially if you are a comic geek who goes in for Frank Miller. On the other hand, if you are expecting Sixth sense part two don't bother. Wait until you can see this movie and evaluate it on it's own strengths.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: awesome, nerve shattering, thriller with a twist........
Review: i loved it! but it took me 2 viewings to really apreciate the plot and especially that jaw dropping twist at the films climax. the acting by all is splendidas is the great, eerie musical score! the thx dts sound and picture quality rank way up there! i really enjoed this film even more than the sixth sense! rent it or buy this one-you wil be on the edge of your seat!


<< 1 .. 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 .. 64 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates