Unbreakable: What’s It Really About?

Last Updated on June 26, 2024

Director M. Night Shyamalan has earned quite a reputation as both a visionary filmmaker and the king of twist endings, and oh- how could I forget that he also makes some very whack movies? It’s interesting to think that the same genius who made The Sixth Sense also made The Happening. However, one thing that cannot be debated is that this man has also made some extremely awesome movies. One of those movies has been begging for a breakdown of this show since the very beginning. An unmistakable classic that unknowingly started a trilogy and uprooted comic book movies and superhero origin stories in a very unexpected way. Today, we’re talking about Unbreakable.

After security guard David Dunn (played by the great Bruce Willis) survives a train wreck, he seems to be the only person who wasn’t killed. In fact, he wasn’t even hurt in this horrendous wreck. Now, David is a pretty normal guy. A quiet, blue-collar townie who married his high school sweetheart- they were literally the high school quarterback and cheerleader couple. Over the course of the movie, David discovers that he has a sort of superpower. He’s impossibly strong, seemingly invincible, and as tragic and morally driven as the best of them. But every hero has his villain and his kryptonite. The story guides us through David’s struggle to understand his power while he’s also being harassed by the comic-book-obsessed Elijah Price (played by Samuel L. Jackson), who aims to make himself a proper foil to the world’s first Superhero.

Now, suppose this movie is among your favorites in the Shyamalan collection (like it is for me). In that case, you’re in for a real treat in today’s episode, where we put this movie under the microscope and try to extract as much meaning as possible from this incredibly fun film. I want to know what makes it tick, ya know? Is it the shlubby, relatable hero that Willis is so great at playing? Is it the dark yet colorful world this film is set in? Or is it a combination of a million elements? I don’t know- but today we’re going to figure out- what is Unbreakable REALLY about?