Originally Posted by Alvin
It's been a long time since I've seen any of his films so I can't put in complaints about specific aspects, but it's the children he casts that I remember as being particularly bad, the one in Unbreakable is a wonderfully dire example; the scene where he appears with the gun threatening to shoot Bruce Willis almost gave me a stroke (ridiculous hyperbole right there, I apologise).
The scene in question was a bit silly, but it was incredibly tense. The audience I saw it with on opening weekend laughed once or twice, though clearly out of a desperate need for levity. Remove one funny line about "no shooting friends" and it's played pretty straight the whole way through.
That said, there are just too many things right with
Unbreakable to care much about what's wrong. Spencer Treat Clark, whether you think he's passable or not (I think he gets the job done, though not spectacularly), is surrounded by a very accomplished cast. Jackson and Willis play off each other perfectly, and Robin Wright Penn steals the show as a wife who feels like a widow, and is struggling to understand why.
We also have the score. James Newton Howard outdoes himself with an elegant (yet somewhat epic) tune that reflects not only the protagonist's heroism, but his
melancholy nature, as well. If that weren't enough, the main theme is distinctive enough that you can recognize it after just a
few notes. You can download a clip that covers all of these aspects
here (MP3, 2.29 MB)
On top of that, we have Eduardo Serra's cinematography, which has was nominated for an Oscar before his work on
Unbreakable (for
The Wings of the Dove) and after (for
Girl with a Pearl Earring).
The entire thing is constructed like a comic book from the very beginning; not just the narrative, but the shots themselves. Say what you will about the film's story (personally, I find it believable and superbly paced), but the film is too objectively good from a technical standpoint alone to be as terrible as you say. And, while popular opinion doesn't prove anything, it's certainly on the film's side, with critical reviews mostly positive and IMDB users rating it at 7.1.
Again, you're entitled to your opinion. But here's mine: it's an incredibly well-made film that has the patience and foresight to build to a reasonable resolution that, though surprising to some, does not overpower the rest of the film as some of Shyamalan's other conclusions have.
I suspect I would find any film with
Unbreakable's level of patience refreshing, but couple it with an obvious level of technical expertise and the brilliant simplicity of bringing a superhero into the "real" world, and it's among my favorite films of all-time.