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The Scrubbing Bubble looks at M. Night's UNBREAKABLE script

Hey folks, Harry here. Now... all of you good folks should realize that this is the same draft of UNBREAKABLE that Moriarty reviewed... that IGN's folks have reviewed... that... Well, It's made the rounds. However, I refuse to read this script. After SIXTH SENSE... I try to keep M Night's films as secret to myself as possible. This has minor spoilers, and merely pokes at the ending, without giving it away. You should also know, that this draft is NOT necessarily the shooting draft, and that M. Night may very well of changed the ending... or perhaps has done something even weirder... I don't know, Scrubbing Bubble doesn't know, IGN don't know, Corona don't know... Nobody but Shyamalan and his editors and post folks know for sure. And... we're working on em. Muhahahahaha Just kidding. I don't want to know.

THE SCRUBBING BUBBLE REVIEWS THE SCREENPLAY M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN'S "UNBREAKABLE"

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It starts quitely and builds with power until I almost can't take it and then-

And then M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote and directed last year's sensational "The Sixth Sense", tries to give his new script "Unbreakable" a twist ending. It happens in the last four pages and everything suddenly falls flat. Maybe he didn't feel an audience would embrace it the way they did "Sixth" without some mind blowing final twist. Maybe he planned it all along and on screen it will work briliantly. But for what its worth, on the page, it doesn't.

Night's October 8th 1999 draft of UNBREAKABLE runs 128 pages. The film, which has already finished principal photography, stars Bruce Willis as David Dunne, a security guard at a football stadium. After being involved in a massive subway car crash in which 131 people die and he survives without a scratch, he starts to show signs that he's...invincible. Neat, huh?

Then there is Elijah, a man who was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a rare disorder that makes his bones less dense. That basically means that if you bumped into this guy the wrong way, you'd hear the sickening crack of his arms and legs breaking. Samuel L. Jackson should bring major power to this role. Since his mother gave him his first comic book as a child, he's been obsessed with these gods who stop crime and have superhuman strength. He runs a comic book shop called "Limited Edition" and claims to be one of the world's most knowledgable comic book experts.

Night sets up these two men's lives beautifully. Within just a few pages I was there, totally sucked in. In a lot of ways, this is a better story than "The Sixth Sense". It is so original and challenging. That's why I got a little pissed over the ending.

Basically, Elijah seeks out David. He's been tracking the city's worst disasters and looking for survivors like David. He's convinced that out there somewhere exists a man who is his polar opposite. While he jokingly refers to himself as Mr. Glass, he believes out there is a man who can't be hurt. And he finds him in David.

These two men, the relationship that develops between them, and how it effects their lives is wonderful. You sense this profound feeling of hope welling up while you read. In this dark drab world, we get this slight hint of hope that there is a man similar to those in comic books. A man who could protect people who are fragile, like Elijah. Like the rest of us. This feeling pervades the whole film and finally, when David dones a costume that isn't really a costume, but at the same time is, we feel this burst of joy. You're so happy that someone out there who can help us. And you love Elijah for making him accept what he has to do.

And then Night gives us this really sucky, Usual Suspects ending that boggled my mind. Sure, it's clever. Sure it might work in the movie. It might. But this ending totally ruins the emotion and morality of what he set up. It undermines everything we invested in Elijah and in his philosophy. And it hurts. It's strange how only a few pages can turn a whole script around and just ruin that feeling of joy you had at reading something so great.

Kudos to the script. I loved it. But the ending really let me down

The Scrubbing Bubble

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Reader Talkback

excellent
by mmm_free_wig
Jun 23rd, 2000
06:22:54 AM
Twist endings
by Brian DePalma
Jun 23rd, 2000
06:32:18 AM
Sounds Good
by Mad Dog
Jun 23rd, 2000
06:35:26 AM
brian depalma
by mmm_free_wig
Jun 23rd, 2000
06:39:00 AM
Yay
by Toshlines
Jun 23rd, 2000
06:42:20 AM
My Idea
by Mad Dog
Jun 23rd, 2000
07:08:18 AM
Psst! Wanna hear a secret?
by DarthSlater
Jun 23rd, 2000
08:32:40 AM
I saw the Sixth Sense before...
by cozmicrob
Jun 23rd, 2000
08:33:01 AM
Role models are hard to come by....
by JmanZ
Jun 23rd, 2000
09:17:52 AM
have a little faith
by holidill
Jun 23rd, 2000
11:00:30 AM
What's wrong with the ending?
by Doughboy
Jun 23rd, 2000
11:03:37 AM
Here we friggin go again,
by KingMenthol
Jun 23rd, 2000
11:25:04 AM
tricky ending
by oyster boy
Jun 23rd, 2000
11:29:29 AM
Osteogenesis Imperfecta
by KingMenthol
Jun 23rd, 2000
11:47:54 AM
C'mon people...
by X-Mole
Jun 23rd, 2000
11:56:23 AM
fuckin twist endings
by ddd
Jun 23rd, 2000
12:31:03 PM
You guys are going to hate me but...
by mephisto666
Jun 23rd, 2000
01:48:36 PM
Secret Ending
by PHEARMeFanBoy
Jun 23rd, 2000
02:10:40 PM
Oh yeah, forgot to add...
by PHEARMeFanBoy
Jun 23rd, 2000
02:14:08 PM
the twist ending
by billy
Jun 23rd, 2000
02:47:27 PM
quit guessing at the ending
by Reverb
Jun 23rd, 2000
06:35:34 PM
So that's what that is...
by WireDemon
Jun 24th, 2000
11:13:49 PM
poor man's roald dahl...
by half vader
Jun 24th, 2000
11:47:09 PM
Red Herring
by GDM
Jun 25th, 2000
05:32:39 AM
This Idea Sounds Cool! Hope They Decide Not To Try Too Hard For
by Buzz Maverik
Jun 25th, 2000
02:19:55 PM
WHERE CAN I TAKE A LOOK AT THIS SCRIPT?
by WhiteMidnight
Jun 26th, 2000
12:21:11 AM
Unbreakable Script
by greenbear
Jun 26th, 2000
04:24:36 AM

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