In this blog post, we’ll examine M. Night Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable” to explore its genre-bending attempt at a mystery-superhero hybrid, the identities of David Dunn and Elijah Price, and the recurring themes of family and faith found in Shyamalan’s films.
Shyamalan Begins
Following the global box office smash hit ‘The Sixth Sense’—the film that pioneered the “no spoilers” rule—both movie buffs and the general public must have eagerly awaited director M. Night Shyamalan’s (hereinafter Shyamalan) second film. Shyamalan’s choice was a mystery superhero film. Unfortunately, the film failed to achieve significant box office success, leaving audiences hoping for another twist-filled movie like ‘The Sixth Sense’ in the future. Surprisingly, however, his next film turned out to be a mystery family sci-fi drama. Having released a film every two years, Shyamalan has, up to his latest film ‘After Earth’, churned out works that have failed to live up to the expectations set by ‘The Sixth Sense’, and he has now reached a point where audiences have turned their backs on him.
I have what is commonly called “fanatic” devotion—an endless love—for Shyamalan. That’s why I have no doubt that he is a director with more than enough talent to make a comeback someday. In Shyamalan’s previous works—from ‘The Sixth Sense’ to ‘The Happening’—there is a consistent, common theme of family and faith that he seeks to explore. Furthermore, all of his films are cloaked in a genre framework, with the so-called “Shyamalan-style mystery” forming the core within.
His debut film, ‘The Sixth Sense’, is regarded as a legendary movie that achieved the highest box office earnings in Hollywood, the world’s leading center for commercial cinema. Produced on a budget of $40 million at the time, it grossed a staggering $293 million in North America alone, with total worldwide revenue reaching $672 million. This is clearly an impressive record even when compared to today’s Hollywood blockbusters, demonstrating that his film was widely recognized as a commercial success by the general public.
What distinguishes his debut film from his subsequent works? Starting with the genre of ‘The Sixth Sense’, it is a mystery-horror film. In Western cinema, spirits are typically portrayed as hostile entities that instill fear in humans. Take films like ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The Omen’ as examples: Western ghosts take the form of demons or curses that harm humans. In that regard, the ghosts in ‘The Sixth Sense’ resemble the “han”-filled restless spirits depicted in Korea, Japan, and Thailand.
Since this traditional shamanism is rooted in the cultural sensibilities of those countries, it is likely difficult for Westerners to be captivated by a film based on the emotional resonance of “han” found in Eastern ghosts. In the case of Takashi Shimizu’s ‘The Grudge’, the film sparked a craze due to the shock value of the mother ghost crawling on the floor while emitting screeches and the image of Toshio; this is why the film ‘The Grudge’ continues to be remade in Western versions. The background of the mother ghost and Toshio, however, is not particularly important to Western audiences. The truth is that they are drawn to such intense imagery.
Within the Hollywood film system, which operates on such a sensational and commercial model, ‘The Sixth Sense’ would not have achieved the fame it enjoys today without its groundbreaking twist. From his very first film, Shyamalan boldly experimented with subject matter that deviated from the genres demanded by Hollywood—that is, the emotionally and commercially systematized film grammar—and incorporated the thriller element of the plot twist into his work.
When people think of Shyamalan, the genre that comes to mind is likely mystery. The second film he chose to direct was ‘Unbreakable’, a mystery superhero film. Judging by the poster alone, the film appears to be an action movie. Bruce Willis’s influence certainly plays a part in this perception; it also resembles a buddy cop movie.
It’s true that the reviews for his films after ‘The Sixth Sense’ didn’t garner much attention from the public or critics, so I ended up watching them out of chronological order, skipping some in between. Then, when the Korean film ‘The Psychic’ was released and I heard that the director had drawn heavily from ‘Unbreakable’, I realized—having watched all of Shyamalan’s other films by then—that ‘Unbreakable’ was actually a superhero film, and I ended up watching it last.
I felt that the characters’ interconnections and the key messages found in Shyamalan’s films were well integrated into the film’s characteristic mysterious atmosphere. However, the biggest problem with ‘Unbreakable’ compared to Shyamalan’s other films (‘The Sixth Sense’ through ‘The Happening’) is that it runs up against limitations when trying to tackle the superhero genre with just a single mystery element. Given the current trend of many films blending genres—and the proliferation of superhero movies that realistically portray heroes and their dark sides—Shyamalan’s ‘Unbreakable’, released in 2000, was undoubtedly a novel attempt for its time. Yet, somehow, ‘Unbreakable’ feels as though Shyamalan’s direction and the genre itself are disconnected. It seems like a good case study for discussing how to blend genre conventions with one’s own directorial style when attempting something new.
‘Unbreakable’: Off the Rails
A train collision occurs in Philadelphia. It was a major accident in which 131 people, including crew members and passengers, died instantly at the scene, but surprisingly, one survivor is found: David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a security guard at a college football stadium. David was a star athlete who rose to hero status during his college days, but a car accident brought his playing career to an end. What’s astonishing is that he survived that accident without a single scratch. Unable to shake off the shock of being the sole survivor, David discovers a note tucked into his car and sets out to find the person who sent it—a man named Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson).
As he reflects on his past with Elijah, the middle-aged David Dunn begins to question his identity. In the film, this question of identity centers on whether he is truly a hero—a theme that, when compared to other superhero stories, corresponds to the early stages of a hero’s journey. In the case of Superman, this corresponds to his childhood as Clark Kent after being sent from the planet Krypton to Earth; in Christopher Nolan’s Batman, it involves his journey to the city after receiving martial arts training from Ra’s al Ghul. In ‘Unbreakable’, however, this initial phase takes up 80 minutes of the film—more than two-thirds of its runtime. For reference, the film’s runtime is 107 minutes.
“Why did David Dunn survive the train crash? Has he been injured in the past? If so, is he a hero?”—these questions essentially encompass the entire surface-level narrative of the film. From the very beginning, we already know that David Dunn is special simply because he survived a train crash in which everyone else died. The film lacks the strength to sustain itself by focusing on whether David Dunn took sick leave from work in the past or why he survived a car accident unscathed during his days as a football player.
The action sequences meant to prove that David Dunn is a hero also contribute to sapping the audience’s energy. For example, this is evident in the scene where David Dunn realizes his strength while lifting dumbbells during a workout; the scene where he sneaks a gun into the stadium; and, connected to these, the scene in the middle to latter part of the film where he figures out a criminal’s drug possession but lets him go due to a lack of evidence. In the latter part of the film, the scene where he strangles a murderer to death without taking any action whatsoever even leaves the viewer feeling frustrated.
In this way, Shyamalan exercises restraint even in the film’s final action sequence to emphasize realism. In the end, he even frames the film as a hoax, as if it were a true story. ‘Unbreakable’ focuses solely on portraying the superhero genre realistically, failing to bring about any genre-bending innovations or create anything experimental. Rather, it merely follows the genre’s conventions, but even that fails to meet expectations, resulting in a mediocre mystery superhero film.
In the case of the film ‘Watchmen’, the story begins at a point in time long after the superhero universe has already been established, and it uses a film noir style to depict the process of uncovering societal conspiracies unfolding in both the past and present, following the hero Lore Sheck. “Kick-Ass” features two protagonists: Kick-Ass, an ordinary guy who wants to become a superhero, and Hit-Girl, who has grown up as a superhero since childhood. The film both follows and satirizes the superhero genre. For example, at the end, the film teases a sequel by showing Hit-Girl vowing revenge against Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass—who killed her father—while simultaneously making a mockery of the traditional superhero genre; yet, through the character of Hit-Girl, it delivers spectacular action and a sense of exhilaration.
At the end of ‘Unbreakable’, David Dunn attends Elijah’s exhibition and shakes his hand, only to be shocked upon learning that all the previous train accidents and bridge collapses were crimes committed by Elijah in his quest to find a hero. This plot twist also fails to resonate deeply and loses its impact.
Rise, Shyamalan
In the film ‘Unbreakable’, while David Dunn’s character fails to make an impact, the character of Elijah Price comes across as compelling. Although he is revealed to be the villain in the ending, we’ve actually been suspecting that Elijah is the villain throughout the entire movie. Elijah Price was born with a congenital bone disorder that leaves him unable to walk; even the slightest bump while moving causes his bones to shatter. He has been in a wheelchair since childhood. After receiving a gift of superhero comic books at his mother’s suggestion, he found vicarious fulfillment through these heroes and has since opened a gallery specializing in limited-edition prints.
Believing that a hero exists somewhere in the world, Elijah becomes convinced that David Dunn is that hero upon hearing news of him and begins to obsess over him. The tragedy born of Elijah’s obsession ultimately became David Dunn, and the film convincingly conveys—through Samuel L. Jackson’s performance—that Elijah, having projected himself onto the comic book hero, had already come to terms with the reality that he wanted to be that person but could never be, and that this was the driving force behind his actions.
It is said that ‘Unbreakable’ was adapted from a short screenplay by Shyamalan. Perhaps because of this, it feels like it was rushed into production on a low budget shortly after the success of ‘The Sixth Sense’. This leads one to believe that, in Shyamalan’s subsequent films—’Signs’, ‘The Village’, and ‘The Happening’—genre serves merely as a MacGuffin. This is true of the existence of aliens in ‘Signs’, the mysterious monster in ‘The Village’, and the unknown epidemic in ‘The Happening’.
In ‘Unbreakable’, the starting point is the superhero genre, but underlying this is the discord between David Dunn and his wife, as well as his relationship with his son—all of which stem from a rift in their mutual trust. Early in the film, there’s a scene where David Dunn takes off his ring on a train and tries to flirt with the woman sitting next to him, but she feels uncomfortable and walks away. The DVD includes a deleted scene featuring a conversation between David Dunn and his wife, in which there are hints that she had an affair; it seems this was edited out, perhaps because it was deemed unimportant.
This refers to a scene in the early-to-mid part of the film where his wife confesses that she feels David Dunn has given her another chance after the train accident and asks him to try to make things work again. David Dunn’s son, Joseph, believes his father is a hero after hearing Elijah’s words. In the middle of the film, despite Joseph pointing a gun at David Dunn—who continues to feel confused about his identity while watching him lift dumbbells—David Dunn still lacks confidence.
He goes to see Elijah, but Elijah remains convinced. Once again thrown into confusion, David Dunn realizes the unconditional faith his wife and Joseph—who have both changed since the train accident—place in him. He enters the train shed where the accident occurred, recalls the traffic accident in which he and his wife nearly died, and remembers how he saved her. He then goes to a crowded plaza to put himself to the test. David Dunn, who saved an entire family from certain death at the hands of a serial killer, repays their faith the next day at the breakfast table—a perfectly ordinary morning—by pushing the newspaper featuring his article toward Joseph, who is sitting with his head bowed.
Along with the film ‘The Incredibles’, Shyamalan’s films skillfully use genre as a MacGuffin and convey a message of restoring trust between father and son or daughter (‘Signs’, ‘The Village’, ‘Lady in the Water’) and between husband and wife (‘The Happening’). I am convinced that Shyamalan’s filmography so far is merely a prelude.
I believe that someday he will recreate the glory of ‘The Sixth Sense’ with his signature mystery-horror genre.
