It’s unanimous! Everybody thinks The Sixth Sense is the best M. Night Shyamalan movie, right? WRONG. Because you know what? I don't. In fact, I never have. That distinction has always belonged to Shyamalan’s fourth movie, Unbreakable, in my eyes.
Now, look. I’m not just going to point out everything wrong with The Sixth Sense, because how could I? It’s an excellent film and one of only six horror movies to ever be nominated for Best Picture. But is it M. Night Shyamalan’s best movie? Well, I’m going to say no, and I have four reasons why Unbreakable surpasses it.
Oh, and massive spoilers for some relatively old flicks lie ahead.
Unbreakable Solidified The Fact That M. Night Shyamalan Isn't A One Trick Pony
Nowadays, it’s easy to criticize M. Night Shyamalan. Heck, even the actors he’s worked with, like Mark Wahlberg, have been critical of his movies. But back in 1999, when The Sixth Sense came out and became one of the best horror movies, you'd hardly see or hear a bad word about the director. I remember it well. Proclamations that Shyamalan was “the next Hitchcock,” or “the next Spielberg” ran rampant. And, mind you, this was just after ONE MOVIE. One great movie, to be sure, but one nonetheless. That’s how big of a deal the horror thriller was.
But then, the filmmaker seemingly did the impossible. The very next year, fans received 2000’s Unbreakable. And instead of being another horror movie like its predecessor, it proved to be a much quieter (but no less effective) film. With this production, M. Night Shyamalan basically made the most understated comic book origin story in history, as Bruce Willis’s character, David Dunn, has superhuman abilities but is really just learning about it himself for the first time and questioning his entire life. What I love about this reveal, which I think is even stronger than the one in Sixth Sense, is that Willis's character has to make a decision here. And his choice is ultimately to fight evil. It’s not a tale about making peace with oneself. It’s a story about good vs. bad.
And that twist! (Which I’ll get back to later). That twist, which may arguably be more shocking than The Sixth Sense's, proved the rising director had a very healthy career ahead of him. And then, Sighs, I’m sorry, Signs came out, and all that good will essentially went down the toilet. And yes, I know. A lot of people love that sci-flick. (I’m just not one of them.)
Unbreakable Created A Whole Shyamalan Universe That We Wouldn’t Know About Until Much Later
My colleague, Alexandra Ramos, ranked M. Night Shyamalan’s movies and believes Split is his second best film. I definitely think there’s a case to be made there but, if one were to ask me what my absolute favorite part of Split was, it's that it's set in the same universe as Unbreakable. I mean, what!? Forget the chronology of the MCU. This is the SCU! In all seriousness, my heart leapt to my throat when I saw Bruce Willis in that diner mentioning Mr. Glass. I’m not even joking when I say that during the scene, I gasped louder than I did over seeing Thanos in the mid-credits stinger of The Avengers.
But why would this make Unbreakable better than the 1999 horror movie? Well, because the former movie sparked some more creative delights from the filmmaker. Split is arguably one of his best flicks, and I'm amazed by the fact that it was derived from the same world that the director crafted for his 2000 superhero movie. This is some proof -- for me, at least -- that this fictional universe gave the Last Airbender helmer some of his best movies.
We never got a follow-up to The Sixth Sense. (Not that we needed one, but still). Yet the other film I'm comparing it to did, and that's fairly impressive for a flick that was thought to be a one-off.
Unbreakable Marks Bruce Willis' His Best Performance In An M. Night Shyamalan Film
Don’t just take my word for it. Quentin Tarantino himself called Unbreakable Bruce Willis’s “best performance on film," and this is coming from a guy who has actually directed the man himself! Now, I wouldn’t go that far, as I actually think Bruce Willis has a much better performance in Tarantino’s best movie, Pulp Fiction. Yet I definitely think the performance he gives in the superhero movie is much better than the one he gives in The Sixth Sense.
And that’s not the actor's fault. Sixth Sense was really a star-creating vehicle for Haley Joel Osment, but I’ve always found the Die Hard icon a little stiff in the film. Of course, there's a reason for that, as the movie is about a ghost who thinks he’s still alive and is mentally sorting through all of that.
On the other hand, Unbreakable is purely a character study. In fact, I really think Bruce Willis’s performance in the 2000 feature is the best performance in any M. Night Shyamalan movie. At times, the film feels downright somber, and a great deal of that is due to Willis’ stellar and balanced performance, which is definitely one of the best in his career -- if not THE best.
The Twist In Unbreakable Is Arguably Even More Shocking Than The One In The Sixth Sense
I know many would disagree with this statement, since pretty much everybody agrees that “Bruce Willis is a ghost” is one of the greatest twists in cinematic history, but hear me out. In his article on M. Night Shyamalan’s best twists, my fellow writer, Jason Weise, concluded his description of Unbreakable’s with this statement: “Perhaps if the audience did not know it was a comic book movie…”
And that’s just it! We didn’t know it was a comic book movie when it first came out. We didn’t know WHAT kind of movie it was. It was just the latest feature from M. Night Shyamalan, and that was enough to get butts in the theaters back then. With The Sixth Sense, what people seem to remember the most about IS the twist. Upon rewatch, you might check to see if anybody is actually looking at Bruce Willis’ character besides Cole. (They’re not!). So the twist really supports the film itself.
With Unbreakable, however, the surprise only makes the overall movie better. The revelation that Glass is actually an arch-nemesis was even more potent because it was at that very moment that we actually learned, as an audience, that we WERE watching a comic book movie. The fact that the twist actually CHANGES what the movie is makes it, in my mind, even more effective than the ending in the supernatural drama. It's just too bad the third movie, Glass, wasn't the best conclusion to the trilogy…
So all in all, those are my reasons. Have I convinced you that Unbreakable is M. Night Shyamalan’s best film rather than The Sixth Sense? Probably not but, regardless, thanks for checking out my musings! And those who'd like to make a comparison for themselves should seek out the two quality films.
