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Unbreakable: modern superhero films have a cure
Give a chance to one of Shyamalan’s subtler gems (Spoiler free)
In risk of sounding like the legendary Marty Scorsese, the superhero trend makes me sick to my stomach worse than ingesting a 3 pound burrito bathed in habanero sauce with shattered glass all over it. Incredibly enough, this new category of filmmaking has been adapted by pretty much every kind of director out there. From independent directors of smaller productions like Marc Webb; to younger, relatively inexperienced but promising figures like Ryan Coogler; and hyper-expensive top-of-the-art veterans of the industry like Christopher Nolan.
Despite the variability in experience, taste, age and approach to the craft; most superhero films I’ve seen have been… gee, what’s the word I’m looking for? Yeah. Stale. That’s the one.
Pretty much checking out one example means you’ve seen them all. Or that’s what I thought. Imagine my surprise when I realized that a film made in the year 2000 by possibly one of the most divisive film directors out there would give me hope about the potential hidden within the genre. Of course, I’m talking about Unbreakable.
M. Night Shyamalan is a tough figure to define. Clearly, the man is undoubtedly a fantastic film director despite some misses here and there. The Visit, for instance, was a…