http://www.themovienetwork.com/article/ ... eakable-2
M. Night Shyamalan has long been one of the industry’s most polarizing filmmakers with a less than stellar track record lately. His most successful films, critically and financially have come in the first half of the 00’s with The Sixth Sense remaining his only great film. But he has been aching to return to his other breakout hit, Unbreakable for quite a while now.
Bruce Willis starred as a regular guy who survives a horrific train crash who quickly learns that he has superpowers and eventually becomes the hero he was destined to be when he meets his nemesis played by Samuel L. Jackson. He explains how difficult it was to get people excited about a comic book film, in an era where it wasn’t the norm and box office powerhouse it eventually became.
“I love those characters and I love that world. Of course, the whole world makes comic book movies now. At the time, it was completely novel. I remember when I made it, Disney was literally like, “Comic books?! There’s no market for comic books!” That’s all they make now! It was a hilarious conversation. I remember it. I was like, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe nobody will come see comic book movies.” They were like, “Those are people in little conventions who like comic books.” And I was like, “But, I like comic books!”
It’s bizarre to think how far back Unbreakable was and how original it was for its time. It lit up the box office to a worldwide gross of $248 million and became a cult favorite. The year 2000 seems like ages ago when you think about it and how expansive they have become lately. But the success of comic book films were well on their way as X-Men premiered the same year to box office glory and a few months before Unbreakable.
Even though they are in the same genre, it goes after the comic book mythos in two completely different ways. It was rather refreshing to see a comic book world treated so realistically and not be full of action sequences. Shyamalan stresses the dramatic reality of that world when it comes to Unbreakable 2 and that it would continue to be grounded in reality.
“But the beauty of the world of Unbreakable is that you’re playing it for reality. It should never feel like a comic book movie. It feels like a straight-up drama. It’s real. You’re confronting the possibility that comic book characters were based on people that were real. That’s the premise, so the tone has to be super grounded. It would be cool.”
It’s hard to argue with his thoughts on Unbreakable 2. Seeing a fantasy world that is often portrayed unrealistically treated in a serious manner is a tantalizing affair that would easily stand out among the special effects laden epics that we have gotten to know and be used too over the years. Even though it’s been 15 years, fans still clamor to see Bruce Willis rough up bad guys. Like many comic book films, it leaves you wanting more and see the story progress. There is much to go into and stretch out this new world where superheroes exist.
But that mainly depends on getting the confidence from others to bankroll another Shyamalan feature as they have been floundering very badly with his most recent film After Earth being one of his most hated and expensive films. A domestic gross of $60 million on a $130 million budget doesn’t exactly instill others to quickly jump at the offer of another film that could potentially fail. But I believe that every director can change their standing with one great film and he deserves another chance to show how talented a director he really is.
