New territory ‘Unbreakable’ for ‘Sixth Sense’ director

In theaters

UNBREAKABLE, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. 107 minutes. PG-13.

If M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, “Unbreakable,” is relentlessly compared to his last film, the critically acclaimed and hugely successful “The Sixth Sense,” it’s because the 30-year-old writer and director decided not to cast his lens into new territory, but to train it within the safer realm of what he knows.

He’s stuck with the genre that made him a star, a decision he might come to regret since it literally courts the moviegoing public – not to mention critics – to compare each film as closely as those scrutinizing butterfly ballots in Florida.

What you’ll be hearing is this: In spite of their similarities – each film features Bruce Willis in the lead, each features a young boy (this time Spencer Treat Clark) whose life is changed by something otherworldly, each sucks the color out of Philadelphia in an effort to strike a solemn tone of gravity, each builds to a surprise ending – “Unbreakable” isn’t nearly as good as “The Sixth Sense.” In fact, it’s something of a disappointment.

Without giving too much of its plot away, the film follows David Dunn (Willis), a security guard who comes to understand things about himself with the help of Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a collector of rare comic books who, by all counts, is Dunn’s polar opposite.

Indeed, whereas Dunn hasn’t been sick a day in his life, Price suffers from a disease that makes his bones as fragile as glass. It’s a condition that hasn’t only made Price a bitter man (he’s known in the community as “Mr. Glass”), but which also has led him to an intriguing hypotheses: If there are people in the world as fragile as he, then certainly there are people at the opposite end of the spectrum, men and women who – much like the comic book superheroes he covets – possess unbreakable bones, indestructible bodies, superhuman strength.

On paper, this sounds like rousing stuff, but Shyamalan’s script rarely rises to the level of his enormous skills behind the camera. The film’s opening moments of a runaway train are the exception – they’re gripping, absolutely terrific – and throughout, Shyamalan’s minimalistic approach is to be admired in this overblown era of movies. But movies are more than personal style; if you’re going to lose the flash, you’d better beef up the substance.

Shyamalan doesn’t. As “Unbreakable” pushes forward and it becomes clear where the director is taking us, the level to which audiences must rise to suspend disbelief becomes too high with notions so silly.

Indeed, seeing Bruce Willis tear a door off a car or bench-press hundreds of pounds may seem fitting to some given Willis’ career as an action superhero, but in this context, where the characters – not to mention Mr. Shyamalan – bear the weight of the truth on their trembling shoulders, it’s as unbelievable as the film’s ridiculously contrived “surprise” ending.

Grade: C+

On video

THE IN CROWD directed by Mary Lambert, written by Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin. 110 minutes. PG-13.

Mary Lambert’s new film, “The In Crowd,” is something of a paradox. If it hadn’t made me laugh so hard throughout certain parts of it, it certainly would have snagged an F. But sometimes a mix of camp, bad acting and terrible dialogue – when delivered by actors with utmost seriousness, as it is here – can be great fun to watch unfold.

The film follows Adrien Williams (Lori Heuring), a tumble of blonde naivete from the wrong side of the psychiatric ward who suffers from “erotomania,” a sexual disorder that’s landed her at the sort of mental hospital where patients froth at the mouth and bump into walls.

Yes, this is that kind of movie.

Things heat up when Dr. Thompson (Daniel Hugh Kelly) releases Adrien to work at a country club for rich kids and their parents. The club is supposed to give Adrien structure and a strong work ethic, but she’ll only be allowed to stay as long as she works hard and “knows her place” as a nutcase serving booze to a bunch of snobbish, out-of-control, wealthy brats.

At the club, Adrien meets Brittany Foster (Susan Ward), a saucy sexpot with butterflies for eyelids (you have to see her eye makeup to believe it) who is known by her friends as “Queen Bee,” a popular witch who has most of the men after her – and some of the women.

Naturally, everything goes to hell for Adrien when she stumbles upon Brittany’s deepest, darkest secret, which, when outed in “The In Crowd,” turns this film’s last moments into 10 minutes of hysterical hysteria.

Grade: F+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays in Style, Thursdays in the scene, and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6.