So in the first scene I'm already finding a few things unbelievable in this movie about "superheroes."
1) Why would two people talk to each other through a mirror in that way? Unless both of them were thinking, "Gee, this would sure be a cool shot. I sure wish/hope someone was filming this."
2) If movies have taught me anything, it's that there is probably not nearly enough racism happening in this scene involving black people and white people in the 1960's.
I like the character development of Bruce Willis figuring out he's "unbreakable," but he's supposed to be, what? 40? minimum. You're telling me a man has gone at least 40 years and never found it odd that he hasn't been sick or hurt? What was that childhood like? Boys do dumb shit. They get hurt. This is asking for some major suspension of disbelief.
Oh my God. Within the same scene M. Night says "F--- You" to his audience..
1) The Action Comics issue's price of "still 25 cents" just rubs in the price of comics today. Ha ha. Because inflation is funny.
2) Sam Jackson's mom says, "This one has a twist ending." Ha ha, M. Night. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Here's a twisting ending: the "next Spielberg's" IMDB list after this movie.
Also, I'm just going based on what I've heard about this movie, and what I've seen in the first 15-20min, but did we really cast a white hero and a black villain? Heavy-handed good-guy/bad-guy casting is heavy-handed. Oh, there's the racism they left out of the 1960's scene; it got misplaced into the casting department. . . in real life.
So, believe it or not, this is the first Shymalan movie I've ever seen. Yes, I know, Bruce Willis is a ghost, and his weakness is water, and it was the trees that killed him. That said, I'm surprised to find how much dialogue is actually just exposition. Seriously, it's like half the movie so far. AND, I'm pretty sure if you break down the scene formula, each scene might end with it's own twist. It's like this script is a series of little twists within twists within one big twist. Jeeze, watching M. Night write must be like watching a teen girl braid her hair on prom night.
Gotta say, though, I am really enjoying the performances from Willis and Jackson. They're pretty solid and fairly divergent from their typical on-screen personalities. And Robin Wright; I might actually like her better here than in House of Cards. One thing I'll give Shymalan, he knows how to get great performances.
"These are mediocre times. People are starting to loose hope." And this movie came out BEFORE the recession.
Did Bruce Willis just racially profile Shymalan in a pre-9/11 world?
There are so many things wrong with the scene where the kid tries to shoot Bruce Willis, but I know better than to try to tell people how to raise their own kids, so. . . skip!
Oh shit! I was just making a Signs reference when I said Bruce Willis' weakness was water. I retract my obnoxious joke. Touché, movie. Touché.
However, I'm gonna sin this movie for over use of cross-fades. Or for cross-fading out of scenes too early multiple times. For a movie that takes it's time with long, artsy shots, it sure likes to rush us out of scenes with these dissolves.
And this room is an orgy of evidence that Sam Jackson's character is a super-villain.
Seriously? That's how it ends? No third act? Are all Shymalan movies like this? Insert joke about unsatisfying sex due to lack of climax. And what's with the American Graffiti ending? We could show you these events, but we feel it's more cinematic to put some text on the screen and let you read it.
I think I'd have liked this movie more if no one had hyped it up for me. But that's also the only reason I watched it.
Let's have someone write and shoot those last 30 pages. You know, Sam Jackson is on top of a the Baxter Building, about to evaporate all of Gotham's water into a hallucinogenic drug that, when inhaled, will make audiences think the Avengers movies are good; then all the cranes turn so that Bruce Willis can get there in time to trap Sam Jackson in the sun with Parallax, possibly through the use of air bending (too soon?).
Okay, you're right. Let's give Unbreakable all the points for subverting the genre and removing all the action and spectacle from a super-hero film. It's actually pretty clever and deserves some recognition. I guarantee you won't see a Marvel or DC film attempt anything this ballsy.
