Unbreakable (2000)

A man learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident.

Director:

M. Night Shyamalan

Writer:

M. Night Shyamalan

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright

2 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	David Dunn
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Elijah Price
Robin Wright	...	Audrey Dunn (as Robin Wright Penn)
Spencer Treat Clark	...	Joseph Dunn
Charlayne Woodard	...	Elijah's Mother
Eamonn Walker	...	Dr. Mathison
Leslie Stefanson	...	Kelly
Johnny Hiram Jamison	...	Elijah Age 13
Michaelia Carroll	...	Babysitter
Bostin Christopher	...	Comic Book Clerk
Elizabeth Lawrence	...	School Nurse
Davis Duffield	...	David Dunn Age 20 (as David Duffield)
Laura Regan	...	Audrey Inverso Age 20
Chance Kelly	...	Orange Suit Man
Michael Kelly	...	ER Doctor

Storyline

Actor Bruce Willis and writer/director M. Night Shyamalan reunite after the surprise success of The Sixth Sense for this supernatural thriller. David Dunn (Willis) is taking a train from New York City back home to Philadelphia after a job interview that didn't go well when his car jumps the tracks and collides with an oncoming engine, with David the only survivor among the 131 passengers on board. Astoundingly, David is not only alive, he hardly seems to have been touched. As David wonders what has happened to him and why he was able to walk away, he encounters a mysterious stranger, Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), who explains to David that there are a certain number of people who are "unbreakable" -- they have remarkable endurance and courage, a predisposition toward dangerous behavior, and feel invincible but also have strange premonitions of terrible events. Is David "unbreakable"? And if he is, what are the physical and psychological ramifications of this knowledge?

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Plot Keywords:

supernatural power | train station | train crash | superhero | comic book art | 

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Taglines:

Shattering cinemas soon.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements including some disturbing violent content, and for a crude sexual reference

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 November 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

No Ordinary Man

Filming Locations:

Ontario Street Comic Book Shop, 2235 E. Ontario St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$30,330,771, 26 November 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$95,011,339

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$154,500,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, Barry Mendel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX SDDS DTS-ES

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Not only did Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson co-star in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), but Richard Council, who plays Willis' boss in this movie, played terrorist/fake cop Otto in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), and was killed by Willis in that film.

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Goofs

At the end of the movie, after it's revealed who Elijah is, the camera pans across his desk showing his research. One of the large newspaper headlines reads "Mudslide in Mexico: Kills All 'Expect' Newborn"....it should read "Kills All 'Except' Newborn".

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Quotes

Elijah Price: It has begun. Tell me something, David. When you woke up this morning... Was it still there? The sadness?
David Dunn: No.
Elijah Price: I think this is where we shake hands.
[handshake]
Elijah Price: [flashback occurs upon shaking] I worked in that building 25 years, I know all its secrets.
David Dunn: Secrets?
Elijah Price: Like, if there ever was a fire on floors 1, 2 or 3, everyone in that hotel would be burned alive.
[after flashbacks end]
Elijah Price: You know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you're here... That's... ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In Memory of Elizabeth Lawrence

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Alternate Versions

The Singaporean video version removes most of the struggle between David Dunn and the Orange Suit Man (the man that broke into the family's house). All that remains is Dunn putting his arm around his neck, followed by an inserted recycled shot of the curtains, and ends with Dunn freeing the woman from her bindings.

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Connections

Spoofed in Sky High (2005)

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Soundtracks

Fugue in C major, BWV 953 (from 'Klavierbuchlein fur Wilhelm Bach')
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Glenn Gould
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Courtesy of The Estate of Glenn Gould

User Reviews

Hugely underrated and misunderstood movie

I love this film. I'm the only person I know who doesn't hate it, but I cannot fathom why it gets such a bad rap from everybody. It seems that Shyamalan's films have this a running theme - with the notable exception of the Sixth Sense, which pretty much everyone seems to get. He makes movies that are very subtle, and which seem to need you to focus on them just right to fully grasp what he was trying to do. I've enjoyed all his movies, but for me the alien part of Signs takes a lot away from what I believe to be the central storyline and as such the whole movie suffers a little. Yet I know other people who think Signs is his best, specifically because of the way the alien plot line accentuates the central one.

Unbreakable is a beautifully simple film, but I think it has to hit you just right for you to completely get it. All the actors nail their parts, particularly Bruce Willis and his kid. Shyamalan takes an interesting (if slightly fringe) theory and puts it in a real world context, with a real family. Somehow he manages to never go overboard with it and - for me at least - it gripped me from the first moment to the last. Samuel L Jackson's character history is really nicely crafted in the middle of the other plot lines and you get genuinely involved in the people Shyamalan has created.

Don't get caught up in all the talk of the twist ending. The ending is good, but if you spend the whole movie waiting for this tumultuous twist you'll inevitably be disappointed, and the movie stands alone without it.

Don't go into this movie expecting another Sixth Sense or Signs. It's very very subtle and very understated. If you don't like slow movies, just don't watch this because it moves at a very sedate pace, but I personally think you'll be missing out. You'll likely either love it or you'll loathe it, but at least it will make an impression.