Unbreakable

"Are you ready for the truth?"

2000 1h 46m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

🍅

71%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.3

IMDB

★7.1TMDB · 10,192🍅71%Rotten Tomatoes●62Metacritic★7.3IMDB · 465,464

ThrillerDramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An ordinary man makes an extraordinary discovery when a train accident leaves his fellow passengers dead — and him unscathed. The answer to this mystery could lie with the mysterious Elijah Price, a man who suffers from a disease that renders his bones as fragile as glass.

“Are you ready for the truth?”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Bruce Willis
David Dunn
Samuel L. Jackson
Elijah Price
Robin Wright
Audrey Dunn
Spencer Treat Clark
Joseph Dunn
Charlayne Woodard
Elijah's Mother
Eamonn Walker
Dr. Mathison
Leslie Stefanson
Kelly
Johnny Hiram Jamison
Elijah Age 13

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writers: M. Night Shyamalan
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.3× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, shot by Eduardo Serra. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dylan Tichenor shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson and Robin Wright carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Are you ready for the truth?".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

M. Night Shyamalan directs. Eduardo Serra behind the camera. James Newton Howard scores. Dylan Tichenor cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 3.3× over at the box office.
326 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, shot by Eduardo Serra. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Dylan Tichenor shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson and Robin Wright carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Are you ready for the truth?".
9IMDB entry: tt0217869 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1010,192 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
11Classified under 15 themes, including "philadelphia, pennsylvania", "parent child relationship", "marriage crisis", "superhero".
12Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Eduardo Serra
Original score: James Newton Howard
Editing: Dylan Tichenor
Production design: Larry Fulton
Costume design: Joanna Johnston
Makeup / hair: Howard Berger
VFX supervisor: Richard R. Hoover
Sound: Terry O'Bright
Stunt coordinator: Jeff Habberstad
Runtime: 106 min · 1h 46m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $75,000,000
Box office: $248,118,121
Return: 331% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Unbreakable (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes: 71% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 62/100
IMDB rating: 7.3/10 · 465,464 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

2 wins & 16 nominations total

Also by

M. Night Shyamalan

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-07-31
★ 10/10
Soon found out had a heart of glass. It often gets forgotten just what an exciting talent M. Night Shyamalan was during the early part of his film making career. True that Unbreakable, with its deliberate slow pacing and left-field narrative, would (and has) proved to be not everyone's cup-o-tea, but there's a film making craft here, and a genius idea brought to vivid life, that makes a spectrum of film lovers lament how his career nose dived, how his ideas quickly got as stupid as his acting... Unbreakable challenges the thought process, spinning a story that's of a adult comic book heart, but also of a clinical human examination. The narrative is consistently ambiguous, holding the patient viewers in enthral as the cosmic conundrums come tumbling off of the screen. It's refreshing to find a story like this that is so devoid of cliché, where the wonderfully reflective Bruce Willis and the brilliantly fascinating Samuel L. Jackson feed off each other, their character's destinies superbly steered by cast and director. Unbreakable is a complex movie, but not needlessly so, its strengths are numerous for those of a keen eye and ear. It represents Shyamalan's most clever cinematic offering, to which the sad realisation comes to pass that he would never, as yet, be this smart and vibrant again. 10/10
Gimly2017-02-06
★ 6/10
Not The Shamhammer's best, but certainly of the era when he was still making "good". Final rating:★★★ - I personally recommend you give it a go.
Manuel São Bento2019-01-14
★ 10/10
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog :) What a movie! This is one of the most underrated films out there, and it was unfairly compared to The Sixth Sense at the time the former was released. These are two very different movies, but both of them have a lot of twists, which was what brought fame to Shyamalan's films, especially The Sixth Sense. Unbreakable follows that same methodology. It has a lot of twists throughout the runtime, and they are quite diverse: some are very technical twists, related to our point of view of a particular scene that, as it progresses, we always find ourselves tricked (these ones, most people either don't catch them or just don't care ... For me, it's proof of brilliant writing); the others are the prominent plot twists, where something unpredictable happens to the overall story. This movie has all of that and much more. The story itself is incredibly captivating since the main plot holds a lot of mystery and suspense, but these only work as well as they did thanks to Shyamalan, both director and screenwriter. His very unconventional way of storytelling and the anxiety that he's able to convey to some fantastic scenes, elevate the film while delivering a perfect narrative. It's even more mind-blowing the fact that this movie still makes so much sense and it didn't lose its replay value after 17 years! In fact, I bet it would be a striking success nowadays, where the superhero genre is over-saturated. Each year, we get more and more movies following the excessively used genre's formula that makes almost every blockbuster an instant box office hit. Unbreakable is nowhere near that formula, and I genuinely think that any fan of comic-book films must watch this one so everyone can understand what a "grounded superhero movie" actually means. M. Night Shyamalan wrote a story that everyone can appreciate, without all of those big CGI fights and overwhelming visual effects. Comic-book fan or not, Unbreakable is the closest to what reality would be if superheroes really existed. Regarding the cast, Bruce Willis probably has his career-best dramatic performance in this film. He's terrific as David and I can feel all of the emotions which he wants to transmit to the screen. Samuel L. Jackson brilliantly plays Elijah, who has a real-life disease which SLJ portrayed beautifully and respectfully. The supporting cast is also worth praising since both Robin Wright (Audrey Dunn) and Spencer Treat Clark (Joseph Dunn) play magnificent roles as the wife and son of David, respectively. Everyone helped Shyamalan direct exquisite dialogue sequences that extended for minutes without end. The editing and production of this movie are unbelievable ... and it was filmed in 2000! There are so many long, one-take scenes that explain in just a few minutes, everything you need to know about a character or a specific place or event ... Even a full action sequence is filmed in just one-take (the stunt work is also pretty efficient)! The soundtrack is so important, especially in the last act where everything comes to a conclusion. It's inspirational and even epic, I dare calling it. It's just perfect! Throughout the runtime, you can barely notice it due to how subtle it is. However, when it is needed to deliver a new layer of feelings, it always raises the moment. As discussed above, this is a M. Night Shyamalan film, so a very powerful twist right at the end needs to happen ... and it does. It gives the audience an unpredictable perspective about the whole story. I risk myself in saying that it isn't exactly necessary, but the truth is that it makes sense and it does bring the movie to a whole other level, so very, very well done! Finally, I just wish that this film had been released now. It is so much different than what we are used to watching and experiencing, that I dare to say it is one of the best movies inside this genre. Once again, Shyamalan shows the audience why was he becoming one of the most popular directors/screenwriters and proves that his rather unconventional storytelling, unpredictable twists and excellent direction are skills to praise more often. Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson have great chemistry, but the former has his career-best dramatic performance. The editing, production, soundtrack and even the pacing of this film are entirely flawless, as well as the ending twist that leaves us with our jaws dropped. Unbreakable is one of the most underrated superhero movies ever, but it sits way on top as one of my favorites.