Monday, June 30, 2008

And now, a very different kind of comic book movie: "Unbreakable"

Now here's a movie that can get people talking. You thought there were arguments over Ang Lee's "Hulk?" Try a comic book movie that (a) isn't based on an actual comic book and (b) is far from your normal comic-book pacing. Which is to say, slow. I still don't know whether that's good or bad, but it was definitely different.

"Unbreakable" was M. Night Shyamamamamamamamamamalan's first movie after his breakout hit, "The Sixth Sense." Like that movie, there's Bruce Willis and a twist ending. It's also mostly gray in color and deliberate in plot. But most folks didn't eat this one up like the other one, maybe because there was no precocious lad peering at the deceased.

Willis is David Dunn, a security guard who miraculously survives a train crash that kills everyone else on board. A rather peculiar fellow who owns an art gallery and loves comic books (Samuel J. Jackson) takes an interest in Dunn, thinking his survival portends some kind of superpower. Dunn says pound sand, yet can't stop thinking about past events in his life that point to a similar conclusion. Or maybe he's nuts, too.

It's all pretty intriguing. Or boring. Honestly, it's hard to tell. But I will say this: After seeing this several years ago, I kept thinking about it, and wondering if it was better than I thought while watching it. There really isn't much action, per se. And dammit if everyone doesn't seem to be moping around too much. But it's thoughtful, and if you go into it thinking of it as a graphic novel of sorts, it makes sense. It also helped greatly this time around that the movie was edited to fit into two hours on SciFi. Maybe they didn't take out that much content -- the original running time was 106 minutes -- but it did seem a little shorter, which helped.

So yeah, this movie kind of gets a bad rap. Yes, it requires patience. Yes, Willis is overly morose. Yes, Jackson gets a little too loopy at the end -- "Most times they're friends, like you and me!" But this is worth seeing as a counterpoint to the typical superhero movie that asks us to quickly accept a guy with strange powers before he starts the rock-em, sock-em. Once more, it holds up quite well considering the craptastic stuff M. has been dishing out lately. Seriously ... what's happening, Night?

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