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Tonight let's have a review on part one and two of this movie series, which will create its own universe in the future.
At the center of "Unbreakable" is a simple question: "How many days
of your life have you been sick?" David Dunne, a security guard played
by Bruce Willis, doesn't know the answer. He is barely speaking to his wife Megan (Robin Wright
Penn), but like all men, he figures she remembers his life better than
he does. She tells him she can't remember him ever being sick, not even a
day. They have this conversation shortly after he has been in a train
wreck that killed everybody else on board, but left him without a
scratch. Now isn't that strange.
The question originally came to him in an unsigned note. He finds the man who sent it. This is Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson),
who runs a high-end comic book store with a priceless stock of first
editions. Elijah has been sick a lot of days in his life. He even had
broken bones when he emerged from the womb. He has spent a long time
looking for an unbreakable man, and his logic is plain: "If there is
someone like me in the world, shouldn't there be someone at the other
end of the spectrum?"
"Unbreakable," the new film by M. Night Shyamalan, is in its own way as quietly intriguing as his "The Sixth Sense."
It doesn't involve special effects and stunts, much of it is puzzling
and introspective, and most of the action takes place during
conversations. If the earlier film seemed mysteriously low-key until an
ending that came like an electric jolt, this one is more fascinating
along the way, although the ending is not quite satisfactory. In both
films, Shyamalan trusts the audience to pay attention, and makes use of
Bruce Willis' everyman quality, so we get drawn into the character
instead of being distracted by the surface.
The Jackson character
is not an everyman. Far from it. He is quietly menacing, formidably
intelligent, and uses a facade of sophistication and knowledge to
conceal anger that runs deep: He is enraged that his bones break, that
his body betrays him, that he was injured so often in grade school that
the kids called him "Mr. Glass." Why does he want to find his opposite,
an unbreakable man? The question lurks beneath every scene.
This
story could have been simplified into a -- well, into the plot of one of
Elijah Price's old comic books. Shyamalan does a more interesting
thing. He tells it with observant everyday realism; he's like Stephen King,
dealing in the supernatural and yet alert to the same human details as
mainstream writers. How interesting, for example, that the Robin Wright Penn
character is not simply one more bystander wife in a thriller, but a
real woman in a marriage that seems to have run out of love. How
interesting that when her husband is spared in a crash that kills
everyone else, she bravely decides this may be their opportunity to try
one last time to save the marriage. How interesting that David Dunne's
relationship with his son is so strong, and that the boy is taken along
for crucial scenes like the first meeting of David and Elijah.
In "Psycho," Alfred Hitchcock made us think the story was about the Janet Leigh
character, and then killed her off a third of the way into the film. No
one gets killed early in "Unbreakable," but Shyamalan is skilled at
misdirection: He involves us in the private life of the comic book
dealer, in the job and marriage problems of the security guard, in
stories of wives and mothers. The true subject of the film is
well-guarded, although always in plain view, and until the end, we don't
know what to hope for or fear. In that way, it's like "The Sixth
Sense."
There is a theory in Hollywood these days that audiences have shorter
attention spans and must be distracted by nonstop comic book action.
Ironic, that a movie about a student of comic book universes would
require attention and patience on the part of the audience. Moviegoers
grateful for the slow unfolding of "The Sixth Sense" will like this one,
too.
The actors give performances you would expect in serious
dramas. Jackson is not afraid to play a man it is hard to like -- a
bitter man, whose intelligence only adds irony to anger. Willis, so
often the centerpiece of brainless action movies, reminds us again that
he can be a subtle actor, as muted and mysterious as actors we expect
that sort of thing from -- John Malkovich or William Hurt, for example. If this movie were about nothing else, it would be a full portrait of a man in crisis at work and at home.
I
mentioned the ending. I was not quite sold on it. It seems a little
arbitrary, as if Shyamalan plucked it out of the air and tried to make
it fit. To be sure, there are hints along the way about the direction
the story may take, and maybe this movie, like "The Sixth Sense," will
play even better the second time -- once you know where it's going. Even
if the ending doesn't entirely succeed, it doesn't cheat, and it comes
at the end of an uncommonly absorbing movie.
Split (2017)
Cast
James McAvoy
as Kevin
Anya Taylor-Joy
as Casey
Haley Lu Richardson
as Claire
Jessica Sula
as Marcia
Betty Buckley
as Dr. Fletcher
Kim Director
as Hannah
Brad William Henke
as Uncle John
Director
M. Night Shyamalan
Writer
M. Night Shyamalan
Cinematographer
Mike Gioulakis
Editor
Luke Franco Ciarrocchi
Composer
West Dylan Thordson
Drama, Horror, Thriller
Rated PG-13
for disturbing thematic content and behavior, violence and some language.
Within the process of watching an M. Night Shyamalan film, there
exists a parallel and simultaneous process of searching for its
inevitable twist. This has been true of every film the writer-director
has made since his surprise smash debut, “The Sixth Sense,”
nearly two decades ago. We wonder: How will he dazzle us? What clues
should we be searching for? Will it actually work this time?
Increasingly, with middling efforts like “The Village” and “Lady in the Water”—and dreary aberrations like “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth,”
which bore none of his signature style—the answer to that last question
has been: Not really. Which makes his latest, “Split,” such an exciting
return to form. A rare, straight-up horror film from Shyamalan, “Split”
is a thrilling reminder of what a technical master he can be. All his
virtuoso camerawork is on display: his lifelong, loving homage to Alfred Hitchcock,
which includes, as always, inserting himself in a cameo. And the
twist—that there is no Big Twist—is one of the most refreshing parts of
all.
“Split” is more lean and taut in its narrative and pace than we’ve
seen from Shyamalan lately. Despite its nearly two-hour running time, it
feels like it’s in constant forward motion, even when it flashes
backward to provide perspective.
It’s as if there’s a spring in
his step, even as he wallows in grunge. And a lot of that has to do with
the tour-de-force performance from James McAvoy as a kidnapper named Kevin juggling two-dozen distinct personalities.
From
obsessive-compulsive maintenance man Dennis to playful, 9-year-old
Hedwig to prim, British Patricia to flamboyant, New York fashionista
Barry, McAvoy brings all these characters to life in undeniably hammy
yet entertaining ways. There’s a lot of scenery chewing going on here,
but it’s a performance that also showcases McAvoy’s great agility and
precision. He has to make changes both big and small, sometimes in the
same breath, and it’s a hugely engaging spectacle to behold.
His
portrayal of this troubled soul is darkly funny but also unexpectedly
sad. Kevin is menacing no matter which personality in control, but the
underlying childhood trauma that caused him to create these alter egos
as a means of defense clearly still haunts him as a grown man. Flashes
of vulnerability and fragility reveal themselves in the film’s third
act, providing an entirely different kind of disturbing tone.
First,
though, there is the abduction, which Shyamalan stages in efficient,
gripping fashion. Three high school girls get in a car after a birthday
party at the mall: pretty, chatty Claire (Haley Lu Richardson of “The Edge of Seventeen”) and Marcia (Jessica Sula) and shy, quiet Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy),
who was invited along out of pity. But they quickly realize the man
behind the wheel isn’t Claire’s dad—it’s Kevin, who wastes no time in
knocking them out and dragging them back to his makeshift, underground
lair.
Repeated visits from Kevin, with his varying voices and
personae, gradually make it clear that their kidnapper harbors multiple
personalities. Only Casey, who emerges as the trio’s clever leader, has
the audacity to engage with him. As she showed in her breakout role in “The Witch” as well as in “Morgan,”
Taylor-Joy can be chilling in absolute stillness with her wide, almond
eyes—as much as McAvoy is in his showiness. She makes Casey more than
your typical horror heroine to root for, particularly with the help of
quietly suspenseful flashbacks that indicate how she acquired her
survival instincts. Her co-stars aren’t afforded nearly as much
characterization or clothing, for that matter.
But we also get a greater understanding of Kevin’s mental state
through the daily sessions he (or, rather, a version of him) schedules
with his psychologist, Dr. Fletcher (an elegant and soulful Betty Buckley).
A leading researcher in the field, she believes having dissociative
identity disorder is actually a reflection of the brain’s vast potential
rather than a disability. Their conversations, while exquisitely tense,
also provide a welcome source of kindness amid the brutality.
And
they help us put together the pieces of this puzzle—which is actually a
few different puzzles at once. There’s the question of what Kevin wants
with these girls. There’s the question of how they’ll escape. But the
fundamentally frightening element of this whole scenario is how the
various personalities interact with each other—how they manipulate and
intimidate each other—and whether there’s an even more fearsome force
gaining strength.
Still, it’s
exciting to see Shyamalan on such confident footing once more, all these
years later. Make sure you stay in your seat until the absolute end to
see what other tricks he may have up his sleeve.
