The Unbreakable Crusader

Silver screen heroes are currently hotter than ever before. Film adaptations of DC Comic's Superman and Batman laid the ground rules, and proved an audience would respond to darker, edgier thrills, but Marvel's costumed crusaders are currently reinventing cinematic superheroes.

The noir-ish X-Men was an unexpected critical hit, while this summer's Spider-Man has financially trounced every other film - Star Wars included.

When director M Night Shyamalan followed up his phenomenal The Sixth Sense, he chose a film about superheroes rather than based on one. Tackling its subject in a low-key, realistic way and forgoing the irony typical in comic book adaptations, Unbreakable (currently showing on Sky Movies Premier) proves he's no one-blockbuster wonder.

Darker realism

After emerging unscathed as the sole survivor of a massive train crash, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is hounded by comic art dealer Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who attributes Dunn's survival to a bizarre theory. Elijah suffers from an acute form of brittle bone disease and believes Dunn to be his exact opposite, someone who cannot be broken and is possessed of superhuman strength.

Initially reluctant to accept Elijah's hypothesis, Dunn questions his notion of reality as strange occurrences overtake his life, culminating in a thrilling and shattering climax. And, for fans of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable also has a final twist which colours everything that has gone before.

Realistic treatment of superheroes is not new to comics. In the mid- to late eighties, when sales of popular titles plummeted, comics became darker and more questioning. In the Batman epic The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller wondered how sane a man who dresses up as a bat really is, while Alan Moore's masterpiece, Watchmen, drew parallels between supermen and fascism, speculating on how much good masked vigilantes really do.

Subverting conventions

But Unbreakable is arguably the first time this more realistic approach has been successfully transferred to the screen. Dunn has to cope with a failing marriage and a son who pulls a gun on him to prove he is a superman, as well as realising his new physical potential.

Time is also given to establish Elijah as a truly tragic character and, when the film segues into serial killer territory for the exhilarating climax, it is not so much about saving the day as merely preventing the situation from worsening.

Elsewhere, Shyamalan wryly observes and subverts comic book conventions. David Dunn's alliterative name recalls Clark Kent and Peter Parker, while his phobia of water is referred to as his 'kryptonite'. In a neat bit of costume design, Dunn's security guard raincoat becomes his crime-fighting cape, while all the villains in the film wear brightly coloured clothes, defying the convention of vibrantly attired heroes.

Stately

Shyamalan's striking visual compositions deliberately evoke panels of comic book artwork, and Eduardo Serra's cinematography highlights the strong colour schemes prevalent in comics: check out Dunn's 'green' links and Elijah's purple association.

Unbreakable also has fine visual concepts of its own; as a child, teasing schoolmates nickname the fragile Elijah 'Mr Glass' and, in the introductory scenes of him as a baby, a child and a man, he is reflected in a mirror, a television screen and a framed painting. Elijah's comments on heroes and villains in comic books are represented in the film, and decorations in his gallery, most notably a huge hieroglyph, place the superhero comic in context.

A stately, more sombre approach to superheroes than is usual, perhaps, but if you thrilled to Spider-Man, seek out this equally intelligent take on the life of a costumed crusader.