(rated PG-13, 107 mins)
If Haley Joel Osment’s words “I can see dead people” put “The Sixth Sense” on the map, then this time it’s “Daddy, I can see Super Hero’s” as the follow-up flick by Oscar nominated writer/director M. Night Shyamalan teams again with Bruce Willis. David Dunn (Willis), is the sole survivor of a train wreck who walks to his car the day of the town funeral to find a note attached to his windshield “How many days in your life have you been sick?” Pondering that, he realizes in five years as a security guard, he’s never taken a sick day. Suddenly he receives a raise in pay and it doesn’t stop there. His marriage to his wife (Robin Wright Penn) has been rejuvenated too. Things simultaneously get better and weirder, especially when his life is graced with the presence of Elijah Price (Samuel Jackson) presenting him with wild messages of good vs. evil. Jackson is an invalid comic collector freak who suffers from a calcium deficiency making his bones break (thus the irony of Willis as “Unbreakable” the film’s title). With the visuals and eerie feeling of it’s former “The Sixth Sense”, this story focuses on again utilizing color to make its impact. Primary colors of green, yellow and especially red with a brilliant cobalt blue dominate the backdrops to the people who seem dark and dreary (like a comic book character against a stage set). Even Wright Penn’s blue eyes make for stunning cinematography matching the ongoing theme of comic book characters. Sticks and stones may break Jackson’s bones, but comic books certainly can hurt him; and in the end, it will hurt you too. If “The Sixth Sense” was about people who are dead, this one is about people who can’t seem to die, and maybe should.
