Ravings of an Unrepentant Cinephile

Caveat Lector

Caveat Lector - "Reader Beware"

This blog assumes readers love movies and will probably have already seen those discussed, or are looking for a reason to watch them. Therefore, assume spoilers in all posts. In other words, don't whine if I "ruin" the ending. You've been warned. *laughs maniacally*

M. Night Shymalan's Unbreakable: The Eastrail 177 Trilogy Begins

Glass opens on January 18th, and I couldn't be more excited. As such, I'm featuring a series on M. Night Shyamalan's catalog of work. Not every movie will be featured; only my favorites. Stay tuned and enjoy part two of this peek into the mildly obsessed. In this installment, I describe how Unbreakable made the year 2000 a great year for cinema, but most notably for comic book movies.



While many today hail 2008 as the beginning of the modern superhero/comic book renaissance, I believe it came nearly one decade earlier. It was in the year 2000 that  X-Men came out, showing that ensemble superhero blockbusters could work (sorry Avengers, you didn't get there first). This grittier adaptation of the spandex-clad had some kinks to work out, but it broke ground on a more profound and relevant world. The bar would be raised even higher, though, when Unbreakable hit the screens a few months later, showing that the mythos of superheroes and the art of comic books was worthy of serious study.

Unbreakable was the follow-up to M. Night Shyamalan's popular debut The Sixth Sense. It was billed to look like another horror/thriller (Incidentally, I believe that Shyamalan's movies are often marketed wrong, contributing to the poor reception. That needs to stop.), but it turned out to be a beautifully crafted character study on the superhero genre, centering around the dynamics between two characters: David Dunn and Elijah Price. The reverence with which the story treats the comic book medium is only the base for admiration, but it is nonetheless perfectly interwoven with the plot and action. 

What Shyamalan gives us in this movie is the blueprint for becoming a superhero. You know this because you are told every step of the way. This could have been an unwieldy mess, full of too much exposition and spoon-feeding in order to fit a lot of action into a too-tight time-frame. Instead, Shyamalan focuses on character development. He wastes no dialogue. The piece builds steadily, showing only what's needed in layers, leaving you wanting more as the final twist is revealed.

A twist that we really should have known all along. 


The way that Elijah describes the quintessential images of the hero and the villain in his first few lines (adult version) is a perfect example of this: 
"It's a classic depiction of good versus evil. Notice the square jaw of Slayer-common in most comic book heroes. And the slightly disproportionate size of Jaguaro's body to his head. This again is common, but only in villains..."
He is actually describing himself and David. David is the square-jawed hero, and Price is the opposite, disproportionate with a bigger head, and Elijah's mother later describes the supervillain's eyes as being larger than other people's, as having a slightly skewed perspective. This is Elijah all over, but it's understated. He has set us up from the very beginning, told us exactly who he is. But do we listen....

A note: If Elijah simply had a much bigger head, it would have been too obvious, too cheesy. Instead, he has a wild afro, giving the illusion of a bigger head. This establishes something in our subconscious, though we don't know what as of yet. Elijah's costume, in general, is subtle, giving us hints of his villainy. Elijah dresses in a monochromatic fashion, most of his clothes carrying a somewhat deep, electric purple, a more villainesque color than the primaries of classic heroes. It ripples and shimmers, and seems almost chameleon-like, a perfect metaphor for the slippery nature only a supervillain could have in order to carry out his atrocities and conceal his intentions. Even Elijah's car looks like something out of a supervillain playbook. 

They trick us here because it's not long before Elijah's in a wheelchair, and we can't help but conjure images of a certain chair-bound professor, guiding new heroes and spouting wisdom. We're lulled into a false sense of security. 

Of course, Unbreakable does conform to some very basic comic book tropes, but it's still played down rather nicely. This origin story isn't full of fist pumps and shouts of joy for newfound abilities. Instead, we're introduced carefully to David, the fragility of his home life, the dissatisfaction of his path. He is beyond reluctant as his power is revealed to him, dragged almost bodily by his son, Joseph, as shown in the weight-lifting scene. David scolds his son for putting too much weight on the barbell, only for the child to agree and then add more anyway. When David is able to lift that amount, Joseph says, "Let's add more," and he simply replies, "Okay." It's this simplicity that keeps us from falling into cliche.

All of these things are mirrored in the music...equal part heroic and tragic, exactly what you want for your nascent superhero, the music moves at a steady pace, a rich yet restrained theme that rides the emotional journey with you. James Newton Howard is now one of my favorite composers. He is to Shyamalan's work what Danny Elfman is to Tim Burton's. He knows exactly how to highlight or underscore a piece for the emotionality displayed on the screen, which is essential for the understated performances Shyamalan gets from his actors. I'll get more in-depth on this when I do my piece on The Village.

One thing I will note about the upcoming Glass is that I'm looking forward to seeing some of the supporting characters again, especially Elijah's mother. She gets one of my favorite lines of the trailer, "They always underestimate the mastermind," hinting that she didn't run from her son upon learning what he did. She is not scared of him. "He doesn't look scary," a character says when she introduces them to the same piece of artwork that Elijah's exhibiting at the beginning of the film. "That's what I said to my son," she replies. After all, it is from her that he finds his path and gains his resolve. She understands his philosophy better than anyone. 

Shyamalan tells very personal stories. He takes tropes like horror and action, gives you a world with rules, and then dismantles that world and its rules piece by piece, stripping it back with emotional performances of ordinary people who are always anything but. 

It is his philosophy, however, that I find the most eloquent.

At the core of Shyamalan's films is the overcoming of pain and trauma. His characters experience these extraordinary circumstances that require them to heal in order to literally save the day. That's a different approach than your typical superhero movies, or many other movies, for that matter, and keeps them rooted in realism.
"Real life doesn't fit into little boxes that were drawn for it."
M. Night also seems to grasp the concept of duality fairly well, at least where superhero dynamics are concerned. I appreciate the way he sees the supervillain in Elijah and the complexity of any other good character. Such characters (Read: all) should have light and dark running through them. 
"We're connected, you and I. We're on the same curve, just at opposite ends." 
It should be noted here that all the best dialogue belongs to Elijah. He espouses the philosophy of the film, and he's the one we have to love in the end. 

And I do love Elijah Price because he is ultimately a hopeful character. His final words cement this. As Dunn reels from the revelation that his new friend and confidant is a mass murderer, Price shares what was at the heart of all the pain and suffering he has caused:
"Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you are here. That's... just an awful feeling. I almost gave up hope. There were so many times I questioned myself. But I found you... so many sacrifices, just to find you. Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. I'm not a mistake! It all makes sense. In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain's going to be?! He's the exact opposite of the hero, and most times they're friends like you and me! I should've known way back when. You know why, David?! Because of the kids!! They called me Mr. Glass."
And he's content. I think I love that best about Elijah. He ranks among some of the best supervillains. He does not kill for fun or monetary gain. His actions cannot be justified, yet he is pure in intent. He's perfectly content to be the monster, because he knows he's brought hope, not to himself, not to Dunn, but to the world. Often in comic book movies, heroes step up because there is a big bad that no one but them can fight, but in this case, the villain literally makes the hero. His is not a selfish mission. Scary...and beautiful.

As the film closes, a title card comes up telling us that Elijah is now in an institution "for the criminally insane." Yet the die is already cast. Dunn has found his purpose. He has come up against his first major threat, the true test of any fledgling superhero, and won the day. And when he's done, he hangs his cape up, between the coats of his wife and son. He is home.

But it's not over. It's just begun. Because there's a beast looming on the horizon.


Unbreakable is my favorite superhero origin story of all time, not the least reason being that it took that world and asked the question, "What if?" What if people with superpowers were real? What would it look like? It's the realism, the unwinking sincerity with which he handles this question that makes the movie so special. In a world that becomes ever more cynical, Shyamalan allows us to believe in a way no special effects-laden blockbuster has.



Title:  Unbreakable
Released:  November 22, 2000
Genre:  Superhero Thriller
Director:  M. Night Shyamalan
Writer:  M. Night Shyamalan
Music:  James Newton Howard
Actors/Actresses:  Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright, Spencer Treat Clark

No comments:

Post a Comment