A
moody and brilliantly crafted drama. Superior in many ways to
director M. Night Shyamalan's earlier huge hit Sixth Sense (1999).
Pic opens
in a Philadelphia department store in 1961. A baby is delivered
with broken arms and legs, to the astonishment of Dr. Mathison
(Eamonn Walker). Some years later, our baby, now a teenager (Johnny
Hiram Jamison), sits glumly in front of the television, afraid
to go outside.
His mother
(Charlayne Woodard) bribes him to venture outside with gifts of
comic books.
Back to the
present, and David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is on a train back to his
hometown of Philadelphia, returning from a job interview in New
York. A pretty girl (Leslie Stefanson) sits down next to him.
He discreetly removes his wedding ring, and tries to talk her
up. Not surprisingly, she moves to another seat (and he puts his
ring back on). Mr. Dunn is a troubled individual.
We'll have
to hold off psychoanalyzing him, though, because BIG trouble is
on the way, in the form a gigantic train wreck.
Dunn emerges
as the only survivor; in fact, he's not hurt at all. As he is
leaving a memorial service for the victims, he notices a card
on his windshield. It reads "How many days of your life have
you been sick?" and gives a contact name and address.
Dunn and his
son Jeremy (Spencer Treat Clark) visit the shop indicated on the
card, and meet Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson). Price is our
"breakable" baby, all grown up. He looks frail, and
is a wee bit eccentric. He believes that David has supernatural
powers, and attempts to make his case, citing his expertise in
comic books. After all, he is now the successful owner of a comic
book store/art gallery.
David is hardly
convinced, and just leaves. He has other more pressing problems,
such as a failing marriage to Audrey (Robin Wright Penn), and
a dead end job as a stadium security guard.
As it turns
out, he never HAS been sick, and when tested by Jeremy, is a whole
lot stronger than he thought. What's more, circumstances in David's
life, including his sudden abandonment of a promising football
career years earlier, are starting to make a compelling case for
Elijah's theory.
In the film's
third act, David must recognize his gifts, and determine just
what to do with them. This he does, as portrayed to us with bravura
visuals, and almost no dialogue.
As far as
the surprise ending, it will spoil nothing to relate that it really
doesn't affect the plot. Even so, it is far more of a surprise
than the many times telegraphed "shocker" of Sixth Sense.
If you must know something, just think Rod Serling and O. Henry,
with the emphasis on Serling.
There are
those who will criticize Shyamalan for making another film about
the protagonist's reluctant acceptance of supernatural powers,
but that view is far too limited.
What we have
here instead is the very real and quite common dilemma of how
one handles his gifts--whatever they may be. The Gospels attacked
this problem with the Parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-30 and
Lk 19:11-27).
Shyamalan
uses his own considerable gifts to reopen this issue for us. Matthew
and Luke would be proud.