Monday, June 1, 2015

Review of Shyamalan's Unbreakable

This was not the kind of superhero movie I expected, but it certainly kept me interested. I did not love this film, but I was intrigued and thought it was skillfully shot and put together. This whole movie felt like a superhero's flashback origin story, and was portrayed in a way that felt like the two sombre, moody pages in a comic book that give insight into the protagonist's painful past. Shyamalan's direction conveyed a cold, mysterious universe in which Bruce Willis plays a superman that doesn't know he is superman. The film is mostly composed of slow pans and long stills and has a slow tempo throughout. Even the most tense scenes use a long take, taking the whole scene in and showing Willis from medium or long shots as he reacts to what is happening. This tempo really had the emotion of the film drawn out and intensified, which I liked. For example, in the scene where Willis goes into a house to try and save a family from a murderer, the camera stays with Willis as he sneaks through the home in an incredibly tense sequence. When he is strangling the murderer to death, the camera doesn't cut, it stays in an overhead angle, taking every moment of the uncomfortable, gritty murder in. Or near the ending when the hero's son almost shoots him, a somewhat shaky camera glues itself in the corner of the kitchen as it pans back and forth slowly between the child aiming the gun, and Willis and his distressed wife. The lighting was also something I really liked. Though the colors mostly consisted of a cold palette, it had a genuine feel and paralleled the protagonist's conflict with his stressful life. Everything looked intense and epic, which is certainly fitting for a gritty superhero film. Compared to other thrillers, this has a calmer presence but compared to other superhero movies this was a fresh take on your typical action movie and I was impressed by the artistry in the cinematography.



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