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Unbreakable
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.
2000 · Directed by M. Night Shyamalan · 106 min · Thriller · Drama · Mystery · Screenplay in the scene database · 14 frames
Tagline
Are you ready for the truth?
Plot
In 1961 Philadelphia, baby Elijah Price is born with both arms and legs broken, caused by Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare disease that renders his bones extremely fragile and prone to fracture.
In the present day, unhappily married former star quarterback and security guard David Dunn is returning home to Philadelphia after a job interview in New York when his train, Eastrail 177, suddenly speeds up. He wakes up in a hospital room, unscathed, and the doctors inform him he is the sole survivor of the derailment that killed all 131 other passengers. After attending a memorial service for the victims, David finds a note on his car asking how long it has been since he has been ill and inviting him to "Limited Edition", an art gallery operated by the now-adult Elijah Price. He goes with his son Joseph to meet Elijah. Elijah explains his theory of real-life superheroes: that if he represents extreme frailty, there must be someone "unbreakable" at the opposite extreme. David is unsettled and leaves, but later finds he can bench press 350 pounds well above his expectations. Joseph idolizes his father, believing him to be a superhero, although David maintains that he is ordinary.
David challenges Elijah's theory with a childhood incident when he almost drowned and contracted pneumonia. Elijah suggests that this highlights the common convention where superheroes have a weakness, contending that David's is water. David recalls the car accident in which he was unharmed and ripped off the car door with his bare hands to rescue his then-girlfriend/now-wife, Audrey. He feigned injury from the crash to quit football because Audrey hated the violence of the sport.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
- Cinematography: Eduardo Serra
- Edited by: Dylan Tichenor
- Music: James Newton Howard
- Production design: Larry Fulton
- Produced by: M. Night Shyamalan, Barry Mendel, Sam Mercer
Cast
- Bruce Willis as David Dunn
- Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price
- Robin Wright as Audrey Dunn
- Spencer Treat Clark as Joseph Dunn
- Charlayne Woodard as Elijah's Mother
- Eamonn Walker as Dr. Mathison
- Leslie Stefanson as Kelly
- Johnny Hiram Jamison as Elijah Age 13
- Michaelia Carroll as Babysitter
- Bostin Christopher as Comic Book Clerk
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Barry Mendel Productions, Blinding Edge Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
- Budget: $75,000,000
- Box office: $248,118,121
- Themes: philadelphia, pennsylvania, parent child relationship, marriage crisis, superhero, train accident, invulnerability, biting, super power, disability, shocking
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