Unbreakable

A very weird play with our expectations. The film at first appears to be a mystery thriller with a protagonist who, like the viewer, is stumbling in the unknown trying to figure things out, only to gradually morph into an intimate take on the comic book tale of an enlightened and strangely gifted hero who has solved part of the mystery with the help of an outsider and now faces the historically determined and inevitable fate of searching for the ultimate villain. Formally and acting-wise everything is OK, precisely subordinated to the demands of Willis's character's changing motivational development, and specifically the cinematography and chilling music cried out for some kind of material appreciation at the time, but the story only really grabbed me fully in the last half hour or so, until then it had been flapping lightly in one place, relying solely on the unravelling of a few outlined motifs in the final dramatic phase. 75% (07/09/2011)

I'm a sucker for mysterious, even supernatural movies. I enjoy watching them and discovering what’s happening along with the characters. It's just that these 106 minutes felt like an eternity. Even the cast couldn't save it. If there was any tension, then I clearly wasn’t paying enough attention in physics... It seems I only crossed paths Mr. Shyamalan in 1999 without so much as a fart since then. Unbreakable was just a mystical bore. (17/12/2018)

I just found the denouement a little rushed. Since the whole film slowly flows and very little really happens, I found the ending unnecessarily too violent. Considering how Unbreakable is shot and the high quality of its craftsmanship, the ending definitely deserved more space; here I think Shyamalan didn't quite pull it off in terms of the script. Otherwise, I have no complaints – the atmosphere, the music, the cinematography, the directing, the great Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, and Shyamalan's traditionally great cameo – there's nothing to fault. 85% (11/09/2009)

Shyamalan's originality cannot be denied, and in a certain sense, his creativity and inventiveness are evident in every one of his films. However, the story didn't feel as powerful to me as in The Sixth Sense, nor as dynamic and suspenseful as in Signs. (04/04/2005)

In my mind, Shyamalan’s best movie. Close second is Signs (mainly because we had one of those rings in my town, and I’m thinking about it more and more recently ;). Unbreakable has an amazing atmosphere, so ordinary and dark at the same time. Ingenious layering of the story and the method of its delivery makes it seem like it’s based on real events. Absolutely convincing. It doesn’t falter even in its “message", while maintaining high standards as a movie. Shyamalan really should have a crack at filming a real event. In my opinion it would certainly be interesting. (15/01/2007)