Unbreakable
Tuesday 23 March
11:35pm - 1:25am
Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror HD
On the surface, this fantasy drama from director M Night Shyamalan resembles his previous supernatural sensation, The Sixth Sense, in that it stars Bruce Willis and deals with a paranormal phenomenon, adopting a measured pace and hymnal atmosphere en route to a surprise ending. However, it isn't another Sixth Sense - it's not as good, for a start - but it has much going for it, moving the supernatural genre to a thought-provoking and surreal new level. After becoming the sole survivor of a train crash, security guard Willis is told by brittle-boned comic-art gallery owner Samuel L Jackson that he has special powers. What's more, Jackson believes that comic books are the only way this ancient heroic history has been kept alive for contemporary mass consumption. Willis dismisses Jackson's theories as lunatic ramblings, but details from his life gradually force him to have second thoughts - could he really be a New Age avenger that weaker members of society need? More rambling than Sixth Sense, Unbreakable is still an enthralling and subtle fantasy. Shyamalan is a master storyteller whose supreme self-confidence enables him to push the viewer through assorted hoops. Shot using comic-strip camera angles that only hint at the climactic twist, Shyamalan breaks the mould in terms of mounting a semi-pretentious concept with complete assurance, combining genre language with clever sleight-of-hand to broach seriously oddball issues.
Radio Times Website Film Guide, 23/3/10
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