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Unbreakable (2000)

tomatometer

68

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 159
Fresh: 108 | Rotten: 51

With a weaker ending, Unbreakable is not as a good as The Sixth Sense. However, it is a quietly suspenseful film that intrigues and engages, taking the audience through unpredictable twists and turns along the way.

58

Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 14

With a weaker ending, Unbreakable is not as a good as The Sixth Sense. However, it is a quietly suspenseful film that intrigues and engages, taking the audience through unpredictable twists and turns along the way.

audience

73

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 260,690

My Rating

Movie Info

Actor Bruce Willis and writer/director M. Night Shyamalan reunite after the surprise success of The Sixth Sense for this supernatural thriller. David Dunne (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

Jun 26, 2001

$92.9M

Touchstone Pictures

Cast

All Critics (162) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (51) | DVD (42)

With Unbreakable , Mr. Shyamalan establishes himself as a distinctive auteur with a very personal style.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Samuel L. Jackson plays a comic-book-art collector named Elijah, as in the prophet, and his stare could probably burn a hole through Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

January 22, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Thrill-kill plots, cardboard characters and zap-pow editing are not for Shyamalan, who takes his good, thoughtful time to snare audiences in his dark web.

June 4, 2001 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Shyamalan is a brilliant filmmaker with a distinctive style, but he still needs substance.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: CNN.com | Comment
CNN.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Unbreakable is a film that begins with a train wreck and then, figuratively speaking, becomes one.

January 1, 2000 Comment
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The presence of pop culture refs via comics makes quite notable the absence of any humor or sense of fun, just as it makes its pretentions to deep meaning and self-importance all the more specious.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Interesting premise, but ultimately disappointing.

December 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comments (3)
Common Sense Media

Sequel talk often sparks because this unconventionally contemplative comic-book film is M. Night Shyamalan's only idea worth continuing -a patient, downbeat and thrillingly unpredictable drama that still stands today as Shyamalan's visionary masterpiece.

November 10, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

Some audiences may find the ending silly, some may not find the ending a big deal, and some will be completely blown away. But you'll just have to watch and find out what the big deal is, won't you?

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

With all these superlatives, how could Shyamalan so badly misjudge vital elements to the story? The melodramatic elements take away substantially from much of what could otherwise be hailed as a masterpiece.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

The characters (especially Willis') are drab and uninteresting, and the story, even allowing for the supernatural overtones, is unconvincing.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment (1)
Sacramento News & Review

The old magic fails to re-materialize, thanks to overwrought melodrama and contrived plot developments.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: ESplatter | Comments (3)
ESplatter

(...) Un director con absoluto control de sus medios, con mucho ingenio visual, con buen dominio de sus actores y, en particular, una inquietud por crear personajes e historias diferentes a las que abundan en Hollywood.

June 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | Comment
Uruguay Total

although the subject matter is fantastical, Shyamalan keeps it down to earth with moody realism and a refusal to overstate anything

April 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

For fans like me, the movie is unbeatable; for non-fans, it may be unbearable. (Blu-ray Edition)

April 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

a little too pretentious but still good

January 7, 2008 Comment

Shyamalan takes us in close, picking up sad and angry whispers; his people almost never raise their voices.

July 25, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

The dialogue has more pauses than a High School production of Samuel Beckett. And while that works up to a point, you find yourself wanting to grab the characters and shake them out of their introspective stupors.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

The story is propelled by the idea that we live in a world so desperate for heroes, that people can go to extreme measures to either imagine or create them.

June 30, 2007 Full Review | Comment
Long Island Press

Shyamalan has already established his own personal stamp for his films.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Whereas The Sixth Sense left audiences surprised but surprisingly comfortable, this more mature and ambitious movie preserves its ambiguities and keeps everyone guessing.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

It should play well to the fanboys, but it's obviously meant for everyone else. How you react to this material will probably determine your response to the big shocker at the end.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Remarkable, dark, and surprising.

October 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Zertinet Movies | Comment
Zertinet Movies

Un hommage fulgurant à la bande dessinée dont bon nombre des adaptations qui ont suivi auraient gagné à prendre comme exemple.

September 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Panorama | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Unbreakable

M. Night Shyamalan follows up The Sixth Sense with Unbreakable, a pretty good thriller. Unbreakable was made back when Shyamalan made good films. This is a well crafted and plotted film with a great cast. I thought that the plot was very good and entertaining. I don't understand how Shyamalan went from making films

October 28, 2011
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

many consider this one of Shymalans weakest films but I think its his best. What I mean is that while the Sixth Sense is okay, and very innovative, it just doesn't hold a candle to this film, and don't get me started on Signs. The films is also much easier to sit through than most of Shymalan's films. It delves

July 31, 2011
michael e.
Michael Edwards

Super Reviewer

    1. Elijah Prince: Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you're here.
    – Submitted by Sam B (6 months ago)
    1. Elijah Prince: Now that we know who you are... I know who I am. I'm not a mistake! It all makes sense. In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain's going to be? He's the exact opposite of the hero, and most time's they're friends, like you and me. I should've known way back when. You know why, David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr. Glass.
    – Submitted by Roberto P (7 months ago)

Latest News for Unbreakable

September 3, 2010:
Shyamalan Used Unbreakable 2 Ideas for Night Chronicles
Still holding out hope for an "Unbreakable 2"? Bad news: M. Night Shyamalan says he took his idea...

February 22, 2010:
Bruce Willis Says Die Hard 5 Is Coming, Unbreakable 2 Possible
Bruce Willis says he expects a fifth "Die Hard" to happen next year -- and oh by the way, M. Night...

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Foreign Titles

  • Incassable (FR)
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