For millions of comic book fans around the world, the darkened corner of the comic book shop has been much safer than the movie theater or video store.

These fans’ obsessive nature seems like the perfect market to exploit. They’ll show up every week – relish in the villains and superheros, sidekicks and anti-heroes – and spend their allowance or minimum wage earnings for trips outside the real world and to worlds of fantasy and adolescent romance.

But Hollywood movies never really could get it right. For every “Superman” and “Batman” (the first ones), there were abysmal bombs like the aborted “Fantastic Four” or popcorn fare like “X-Men.” The movies could be good but nothing to obsess over.

Have no fear, though, because “Unbreakable” has saved the day.

And with its release on DVD, comic fans and movie fans can share a common bond. Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan acts as artist and writer, creating the thoughtful and elegant panels that straddle the fine line between fantasy and reality – just like all great movies can do.

Like the seminal comic miniseries “The Watchmen,” Shyamalan uses his own interpretation of the superhero as a launching point. Here, we wonder if superheros truly can exist among us. Not necessarily with x-ray capabilities or spandex uniforms but that physical trait that indeed could make someone superhuman.

Bruce Willis’ David Dunn wouldn't ever be confused with Superman or the Incredible Hulk. But after surviving a horrible train wreck – the sole survivor – he slowly changes his morose outlook, thanks to a mysterious stranger.

Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) has the heartache and abnormality to question whether everyone is dealing with the same deck. A bone disease makes him so brittle that walking becomes a death-defying feet. Mr. Glass is what the kids called him, and Mr. Glass thinks Dunn could be his impervious-to-pain opposite.

With calculated coolness and slow revelation, Shyamalan takes these two characters and engages them in the idea of fantasy. Even before the train accident scene (never shown, but certainly felt), the camera moves as a sort of juxtaposition of the plot speed. Back and forth, back and forth, all through the cracks between the seats on the train.

But Dunn slowly starts believing Elijah. He’s never sick, never injured and has willed an increase in strength without warning. Whether he takes that leap of faith and acts like a hero, well that becomes the question even the strongest of superheros must face.

What Shyamalan can do here is not focus necessarily on powers or buxom babes but what it means to be a hero or a superhero. Can someone save lives with a homelife in shambles and glory nowhere to be found? Not necessarily the stuff of big explosions, but certainly there are scenes that would cause multiple starbursts on the printed page – especially a harrowing scene involving the slow cracking of bones as Elijah struggles for his discovery. Each step he falls down is a minefield.

The DVD only helps enjoy the themes presented. A great deleted scenes selection adds to the story and doesn’t contain any fluff or miffed takes. The two featurettes take a deeper look into the concentrated cinematography and what it takes to be a superhero. Unfortunately, there isn’t a director’s commentary track, but Shyamalan does appear throughout the extras to help explain his creation.

It’s through one of these explanations when we find the true heart of a comic book. In defending the surprising climax, he says that the story demanded it. All good comic books have that concentrated high drama that need repeated readings for ultimate satisfaction. “Unbreakable” demands that same obsession, and through that all is right in the comic book movie world. At least for the time being ...
Unbreakable
four stars (out of four)
Starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Reviewed in August of 2001. DVD special features include two featurettes, deleted scenes with introductions by Shyamalan and a multi-angle presentation of the train station sequence.