There are things to nitpick and the twist ending still doesn’t work, but M. Night Shyamalan’s follow-up to The Sixth Sense seems even fresher in the midst of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unbreakable always struck me as hushed and measured, but now, in comparison, it almost seems to move in slow motion (and that’s a compliment). Bruce Willis stars as an unwittingly invincible security guard who must be convinced of his powers by a sickly comic-book aficionado (Samuel L. Jackson). It’s a superhero origin story as emotional awakening, especially considering Willis’ father and husband is on the brink of divorce. Willis and Robin Wright, as his wife, move and speak with an aching vulnerability, giving the movie a mournful tone more than anything else. Shyamalan employs an upside-down visual motif—when a comic book appears on screen, it usually has to be turned right side up—and if he doesn’t accomplish anything quite so dramatic with the superhero genre, he at least comes at it from an undeniably unique angle.
