Unbreakable (US)

What a HUGE disappointment.
I was expecting a thriller with some special effects and a great plot.
The end result, however, is none of the above. The movie is boring, slow, goes nowhere and makes no point whatsoever.
The video transfer is ok. It`s not outstanding, however. There are no compression signs at all and most of the dark scenes are rendered nicely.
The DTS and DD 5.1 soundtracks are both good. Again, not outstanding. With the exception of the train scene in the beginning of the movie, the soundtrack is rarely violent and the surrounds are only used on occasions.
The menus are all beautifully animated with music.
The extras include a behind the scenes look, a featurette about the history of comics, a scene with multiple angles (actually, the first angle is taken from the movie and the second one is the storyboard) and 7 deleted scenes. All in all, the extras are nothing special. The 2-disc package seems like another commercial trick.
Bottom line - a very disappointing movie that just goes to show how wrong a hype can be.

There seems to be a dividing line between opinion on this film. One half say it`s a superb, almost flawless movie, with a captivating story. The other half say it`s over-rated, slow, even boring.

The truth (as always!) is somewhere in-between. The story IS captivating if you allow it to be, although the implausability of the overall concept may lessen the impact for some people. It`s along the same lines as Shyamalan`s previous Bruce Willis collaboration (you know the one). Some of the same tricks and techniques are employed again here and fans of that film that can keep an open-mind, will certainly enjoy this movie too. The manipulative elements (I`m being careful with spoilers here!) are just as effective, but the feeling you have at the end isn`t on the same revelatory scale. Watching the film a second time won`t be as worthwhile as it was with Sixth Sense because the landscape of the story remains the same, it`s just that some aspects of the narrative can be interpreted differently (come on, I gave NOTHING away there, I was vague as hell!).

Anyway, it`s a good film as long as your expectations aren`t unrealistically high. I personally prefer it to Sixth Sense because that was just daft really (80% novelty value too). Unbreakable is a complete film, not just an overlong "practical joke" and that`s how I felt about the previous offering. The direction is uncomplicated and steady, or bland and boring depending on your outlook. It`s fine for this type of film, and the score is well-suited to the visuals.

The disc(s) are good, some have criticised the splitting of the material onto 2 discs, but if it was necessary to save bit-rate for a DTS track and pristine visuals, I`m all in favour (It wasn`t any more expensive, so who cares?). As it happens, the extras aren`t particularly gripping, although the deleted scenes are excellent (anamorphic too).

Basically, it`s a good value package. You get a competent film with some superb A/V credentials. Just regard the "satisfactory" extra features as being thrown in for good measure.

Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, a security guard whos life seems somewhat distant and out of place. His marriage is hinging on divorce, he purposely distances himself from his son, and overall things just don't seem right. Following a horrific train crash in which only Dunn survives, he begins to question how he survived without a scratch over the hundreds of other people who perished. Was it luck? Was it fate? Or was it something more sinister?? Following the crash a mysterious man named Elijah (played by Samuel L Jackson) contacts Dunn and proceeds to tell him that he believes that comic heroes walk the earth, and that Dunn could be one of them. Naturally, that's not the kind of thing you accept straight away, and its not until he realises that hes never been ill that things really begin to sink in.

Unbreakable is certainly an interesting film, and one that I did enjoy for the most part. Many people have criticised the film for being far too slow or even boring, I personally would have to differ as I found the story pretty well paced throughout, and far from boring. I imagine the people labelling Unbreakable boring are those watching the film in expectation of an action movie, seeing as the film stars two big name action film stars. If you do watch Unbreakable with action in mind, you are going to be extremely disappointed as 'action' is the one thing this film is in short supply of. What you do get plenty of is great acting. All the leads produce excellent performances throughout, especially Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price who suffers from a rare genetic disorder which results in his bones breaking easily.

Just keep an open mind and watch as the story slowly unfolds and if the finale does not make you jump then I suggest you had the volume too low.

If you like adventure films then this is not one for you. If you like thrills and spills...ditto. If you enjoy good acting and don`t take yourself too serious ( come on, it is fiction after all !! ) then you will find this film very entertaining.

As a DVD package its certainly a nice try, though given some of the other great 2 disc sets out there, such as Gladiator or SE7EN, this one is pretty short of the mark.
Still well worth picking up though if you are a fan of Willis and/or Jackson, though if you are after an action film you should think twice.

I agree with your review expect for the video quality.
I have a new TT projector and when the image is big, you can see there is way to much edge enhancement directly on the picture. You cannot remove them without blurring all the details... Color, grain are just fine !
FRED

In his follow up to "The Sixth Sense",Writer/Director M. Night
Shyamalan has created an interesting and steadily engrossing
story about comic book heroes.

The first title in Touchstone`s Vista Series,"Unbreakable" comes in beautiful packaging.The film is presented in 2.40:1
THX certified,anamorpic widescreen and looks stunningly
good.The picture is very sharp and features terrific clarity.

Audio comes with a very good Dolby Digital 5.1 track that remains rich and engaging.A DTS 5.1 track is also on the
disc.

Disc 2 features two well made featurettes,one about the film`s
making and one about superheroes.There is a multi-angle
feature that deals with the train station sequence.There is
a hilarious except from one of Shyamalan`s early film`s,and he
intoduces a bunch of deleted scenes.The packaging says
that there are 2 collectible Alex Ross Illustrations,but there
are none in the package I bought.I expected more extras,but
the focus seems to be more on quality instead of quantity.

Unbreakable is a great film, and a film which personally I think is a lot better than the Sixth Sense which was heavily flawed.

Bruce Willis is cool in a understated role and the whole idea of realistic take on a comic story is good stuff.

A truly appaling film that seems to have some belief that it is incredibly clever and unpredictable. But it is neither. with some very wooden acting and a plotline absolutely riddled with holes and implausability. It seems to be an overly confident mess showcasing the overinflated ego of the director as a result of the surprising success of the sixth sense, which at least had a fairly interesting twist (even if it was highly predictable)
I have no idea about the dvd extras as i have no intention of putting myself through the pain of watching this thing again.
if you are a fan of bruce willis, then you may find little to interest you here as willis goes to great lengths to underact and avoids his usual "smug eyebrow" style of acting, presumably also as a result of the sixth senses success.
although samuel jackson puts in a fair performance, even he cannot raise this film from the senseless nauseus drivel that it ends up being.