Rating: Summary: Excellent Review: The comic book slant is woven throughout the film-watch for it. It's exciting to see a movie that is crafted, not just a story told. Hitchcock would be proud.
Rating: Summary: More like UNBEARABLE... Review: I don't know what special features are being offered with this DVD, but unless it's an entirely different movie, it's not worth the trouble. M. Night Shymalan makes a customary Hollywood move here, and follows the nearly unanimously acclaimed blockbuster with the totally wrongheaded commercial and artistic misfire.Bruce Willis is a stadium security guard who, after surviving a devastating rail crash with no injuries, realizes that he is, as they say in the comics, invulnerable. Samuel L. Jackson is his opposite number, a comic art devotee who suffers from a rare, debilitating brittle-bone syndrome. Jackson's character tracks Willis around Philadelphia, trying to convince Willis that he should use his "powers" for good. But Bruce, along with not believing he is in any way special, has problems of his own. He's estranged from his wife, the always serious, always underutilized Robin Wright Penn. He's trying to maintain a relationship with his son, who, of course, buys into the whole superhero thing. But finally, Willis aceepts his destiny to become the psychic, super-strong, impervious, rain-slickered guardian of Philly. This movie could have been good. At least better. But Shymalan forces the actors to take his outlandish storyline completely seriously, and imposes a slow, hushed feel on the film that reveals his unchecked pretensions more than anything relevent to the film. For a movie about a novice superhero, there are NO convincing action scenes. But I don't know. Maybe that's due to Shymalan's intent more than his ineptitude. And, after "the Sixth Sense," he has gone to the final reel "surprise!" well once too often. The "shock ending" here (don't worry, I won't spoil it) is neither shocking, nor an ending. It's just head-smackingly hokey. Comic book fans, myself included, have critcized Hollywood for years for ruining promising superhero movie prospects with a trivial, campy approach. But if Night's pretentious, funerally paced film is the alternative, I may need to rethink my opinion of, say, "Batman & Robin." Then again, maybe not.
Rating: Summary: A truly phenomenal film that serves as a wonderful precursor Review: I think that it's important to make the distinction between what a movie is, and what a film is. Movies today are filled with explosions, bombs and blondes. Films are a rare art form. Don't get me wrong. I can be entertained by explosions, bombs and blondes as much as the next guy, but I'm always up for a great film. Shyamalan takes this beyond modern day movie making to create a truly wonderful film with an original story. If you don't like superbly told stories that move at a slow pace, then stay away from this film. But, if you want to see a magnificent film with an intelligently and artfully told story, then see Unbreakable. It should be the first great film of the trilogy.
Rating: Summary: Flawed but great (If you're a comic book fan) Review: I can see why a lot of people didn't like this. It's very unique and NOT for everyone. Most people didn't even know what the movie was about when they first went to go see it. They just knew it was from "that guy who made Sixth Sense". That alone would account for much of the disappointment with it. But, for those of us that are taken with the mythology of the comic book hero, there is a lot in here. This movie deals with the questions of how a hero is made. And if evil deeds produce that hero, does that mean that the tragedies that reveal him were actually worth the suffering? I'd never seen a movie deal with this before and I was enthralled through the whole thing. It DOES suffer from a pacing issue and the ending is a little...rushed, but it's still a highly original and entertaining film. Kudos to all those involved.
Rating: Summary: Shyamalan creates a terrific hero Review: You wake up in a rather murky setting. The stretcher beneath you creaks under your weight as you raise yourself into a sitting position. The curtains around you are mostly closed, leaving an opening the size of a small door. On the other side, you see a man lying on a hospital bed, completely wrapped in bandages, and there is a growing spot of red that tells you the man is hemorrhaging. He is about to die. Everything is kind of fuzzy, but you know that you and the dying man were both victims of the same train wreck, but while he is wrapped up like a mummy and quickly approaching death, you look at yourself, and there isn't a scratch on you. The idea of something like this happening prompts a series of thoughts to streak through your mind, and each of these thoughts is captured in director M. Night Shyamalan's follow up to his masterful "The Sixth Sense": "Unbreakable." And I think I have to answer one question before I really dig into the guts of this review: No, this one isn't as good as "The Sixth Sense," but it's still ridiculously good. "Unbreakable" examines a world of possibilities that is very similar to comic books. If someone like Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) exists in the world with the horrific disease of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (a genetic disorder that makes bones very easy to break), then the logic of a comic book reading mind would deduce that there must be someone at the opposite end of the spectrum. Someone whose bones are unbreakable. Someone who doesn't get sick. Someone whose destiny is to utilize his or her powers to protect the rest of us. Elijah (a biblical reference to one who would pave the way for a savior) Price believes that he has found his opposite when a train crash outside Philadelphia kills everyone on board except for one man, who escapes totally unharmed. That man is David Dunn (Bruce Willis, with the double-sounding hero name like Peter Parker or Clark Kent), an ex-college football star who now works as a security guard at the local football stadium. One day, after the train wreck, David finds a note held under the windshield wiper of his car, and in it is scrawled a question that starts the true meaning of the film coming into focus: "How many days of your life have you ever been sick?" David makes it his mission to find out, and he makes some incredible discoveries along the way. M. Night Shyamalan does not disappoint his followers with this film. Sure, the film has its implausible moments, but that is more than forgivable, not just because of the believability of the Willis character, but because this film is, in essence, the first comic book movie that wasn't based on a comic book. The cinematography is outstanding, giving this movie the look and feel of those impossibilities that we love seeing in comics. Shyamalan shows he is quite an established shot-maker, the best I've seen since Spielberg and Sam Raimi, and he uses his music (composed by Maestro James Newton Howard) to accent every scene perfectly. And it wouldn't be an M. Night Shyamalan film without a surprise ending and some really clever sequences. "Unbreakable" is an uncommonly absorbing film that gripped me from beginning to end. The visual style is incredible, the characters are believable, and the acting is stellar. The ending, I thought, was rather tacked on, but nevertheless effective: It doesn't cheat. If I had to pick one movie star to be a superhero, it would be Bruce Willis. Why? Because he never fails to be cool in every single movie he does.
Rating: Summary: Almost as good as the 6th sense! Review: I like this movie a lot. Their are a lot of twists and turns inside of this movie. I liked it a lot but I would say it is just a step below the sixth sense. This movie had me wondering what was going on until the final moment of the movie I was able to put the plot together like a nice piece to a puzzle. I think Samuel L. Jackson also did a great job in this film. I highly recommend this film for movie fans who like a nice plot that will keep you at the edge of your seat!
Rating: Summary: M. Night Shyamalan great director Review: He has a true heart for film directing, and how to get into the audiances minds. His directorial debut with the sixth sense Id have to say extremely over rated but a good movie over all. With unbreakable it wasnt highly over rated, but turned out to be a movie I totally didn't expect. Some people say it was slow, but that was just to show Bruce's characters depression, and his relization of somthing missing in his life. I believe his technique of filming really works for this type of film. overall GREAT FILM!!!
Rating: Summary: Are you ready for the truth ? Review: Not only was this the best film of last year, but one of the best ever!!! All involved were superb making you believe this 'super' hero story whole heartedly. If you like great characters and great handling of how to tell a story then this is for you, if you like a good twist then you'll like this,if you like a gripping and intense soundtrack then you'll like this, if you like comic book story told the 'proper' way, then you'll like this....but most of all if you like film, then you'll love this. I wish there was more I could say about this masterpiece but I would only ruin the experience for anyone who has not seen it. On a final note, don't believe the hype...this movie is better than the sixth sense, those who thought it was not were expecting another sixth sense and completly missed the real experience of a 'classic' movie. BUY IT NOW YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!
Rating: Summary: Can't even compare to 6th Sense Review: This movie is disappointing. The biggest problem is the 'uselessness' until the ending. Aside from the last 10 minutes, this movie isn't even worth watching.
Rating: Summary: Breakable Review: This is where I have to part company with my contemporaries who cry and clamor for a higher standard in American movies. Yes, this movie is different and quirky and unpredictable to a point... but that doesn't make it the best thing since sliced bread. I understood this movie... just like I understood The Postman and Titanic (and other bottom of the barrel Hollywood trash). But it's not good... because, if no other reason - its boring. All of you prickly little critics who want to accuse me not having an attention span greater than four seconds, don't waste you sense of indignant outrage... just listen. This movie starts with an off screen train crash which is followed by at least thirty minutes of a man in a waking coma trying to figure out how many days he's been sick. Question: If you (provided that you live in this world, where other people fall ill) had never been sick, wouldn't you know it? You may ask your mother about your childhood illnesses, but you certainly wouldn't go to your boss and wife to find out how often you'd taken ill in recent years. As an intelligent audience member, I felt like someone was literally battering me over the head with a bat. I figured after about three minutes he hadn't been sick... why did Shayamalan have to tour us through the bloody details. But yet I sat, wanting desperately to be entertained... yes, entertained - there are films that propose deeper levels of discourse and ask for a little patience in exploring them (something like Pi or Gattaca or Mother Night comes to mind to name a few 90's films) but this isn't one of them. This is a simple tale - almost fable like akin to the Star Wars trilogy not The Seventh Seal or Shindler's List - it's got to entertain you. Basically, this ended up being two hours of a dope discovering he has super powers where the average film goers would have known at least ten years before the movie began. The reason I mention that the train crash is off screen is it sets up a comparison to another film of this year - Cast Away (also not incredibly deep). Immediately before fifty minutes where one character will be on screen, we see a dramatic plane crash. Why does Zemeckis show us all this? The answer is simple... the audience needs to see what goes down because the character's ongoing state of mind is going to be the only source of dramatic tension. Unbreakable asks us to care about its protagonist mind state and its voyage of discovery in the same way...yet we don't see what he's gone through. Maybe if I saw the crash I'd understand why he seems so dopish and confused. Maybe the trauma of the crash would sustain the audience through the next unbearable hour. By the way I'm an avid comic fan and collector... trust me it doesn't help.
|