There are so many fantastic thriller movies from Hollywood. Some of the newest ones to come out of the ritz and glamour of a big-budget affair are Annabelle Comes Home, Pet Semetary, and Glass. Unbreakable is the first installment in the series and this is where David Dunn begins his journey. The Unbreakable trilogy is followed by Split (2016 on Netflix) and Glass (2019.)

It’s entirely possible to watch these films out of order. I did, having started with Split. Then I went back and watched the first installment and was more than surprised at just how comic book related it was. In fact, it’s almost as if Shyamalan decided to write a story about superheroes in their purest form. That’s what makes these films special and why I wanted to share this three-part series of reviews on the films with you.

Unbreakable Trilogy Film Series Reviews

The next review for Split can be found here and Glass can be read here.

Bruce Willis and Spencer Treat Clark as David Dunn and his son Joseph

In Unbreakable, the main protagonist is played by Bruce Willis as David Dunn and is the focus of the first story. The reason you can watch these out of order is due to the restrained nature of flashbacks that feature in the last film of the trilogy, Glass. The flashbacks in Glass pertain to elements in the Unbreakable film. Split didn’t feature Dunn’s character at all, but you do see him briefly. Split is by far the least comic book-like film in the series, and it’s also my favorite.

It’s For Superhero Fans Who Don’t Like Superheroes

If you love superheroes, Unbreakable isn’t just your run of the mill thriller movies from Hollywood. Especially if you aren’t overjoyed with the usual fanfare that comes with the mainstream choices. Aside from The Beast, introduced in Split, there are no tentacles, gnashing elongated teeth, metal arms, legs or eyes. You will find no laser beams here. These films are more of a character study of deconstructed superheroes where you really get a sense of each individual. Even if there are 23 individuals inside the one person, it’s the stories within the stories here that are impressive. If you’ve read my reviews before, you’ll know I love a character-driven film.

Rather than the straightforward storyline you usually get with movies of this type, this trilogy creates an origin story to every superhero story ever made. It compartmentalizes comic books as an unofficial historical account of people with inhuman abilities. It mashes all of the rules associated with comic book characters and peels away the overtness of it all. Then it follows the basis of all the components in a comic book story and waves it in front of you without the costumes. By placing everybody outside caves, or in underground hideouts and without reckless cackles from villains, it’s just a normal world with remarkable people.

Mr. Glass aka Elija Price played by Samuel L. Jackson

Unbreakable, The Characters

Who Do We Meet in Unbreakable?

5-year-old Kevin Wendell Crumb and his mother Mrs. Crumb

For a brief moment as David Dunn bump into the pair as they walk by. David Dunn Although David has never been ill or injured and slowly discovers he has increased strength, he does not believe he is special. His weakness is water. As he also can’t swim, this combination is less than ideal. Glass points out he can be choked and drown easier than usual. With his abilities in strength not completely honed, David perceives himself to be unspectacular.

Through the three films, he does discover his strength builds quickly. He was easily able to train himself to be able to lift about 160 kgs. However, his personal value lies in discovering he can tap into visions from people who commit crimes if he touches them. With the practice of these skills, he becomes proficient at vigilanteism and does so under a black coat as covertly as possible.

“Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you’re here. That’s – that’s just an awful feeling.” — Elija Price quote from Mr. Glass

Elija was born with brittle bones and is the ethos of an anti-hero. Someone born with an extreme deficiency that has caused him to be tormented by peers, teased, taunted and made to feel less than everyone else because of his perceived inferiority. Although weak, he is a mastermind and instead uses his genius for evil deeds instead of good.

Comic Book Connoisseur – Unbreakable

Mr. Glass is a comic book expert and brings forward his theory of them being used as historical guidelines within his research into the extraordinary. So fixated is he in his quest to discover evidence of his beliefs that he orchestrates mass terrorism and disasters.

Due to his extreme fragility and ability to relate to the comic book world, he imagines himself to be on the bottom of the extreme of human frailty. That for every example like him there must be an equal at the other end of the scale. Someone who is unbreakable.

Unbreakable – Start at the Beginning of David Dunns Journey

Unbreakable sets to draw the curtain back from what exactly a superhero is. Comprising of the furthest extremes, that is, someone that is unbreakable and someone who is not. But who wants to know and why?

The whole film concentrates on dialogue and there are times when you’ll feel like time is just ticking away when you could be watching something more exciting.

In this story, we learn everything about everything though. We learn about Dunne’s relationship with his wife and his son. His regrets and his ability to overlook something that’s been inside him his whole life. We learn about Elijah and get a brief but explanatory introduction to someone who also knew he was different in some way but his journey to figure out what that means was completely different.

Searching his whole life for Mr. Glass

Together they seem like the perfect mentor and mentee and go about their acquaintance learning and questioning all that they have known throughout their lives. Both become strong having met and more in tune with their inherent traits simply by meeting each other.

By the time the film ambles to a close, the biggest of secrets is revealed. It’s no wonder this film is a cult classic and when it was first released was met with a ‘meh’ response. It’s only when tied into the trilogy that not only does it become more special but highlights the long game Shyamalan was playing since the beginning. Had the esteemed and prolific filmmaker Night taken less than 7 years to get the second film out, perhaps the momentum wouldn’t have been so stilted.

I give Unbreakable

4 deconstructed superheroes out of 5

4 stars out of 5

READ: Brightburn review. / READ: Pet Sematary gets a face life in 2019. / REBOOT: Hellboy, was it worth it?



Go back as far as 2000, don’t overlook Unbreakable.

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