Unbreakable (UHD Blu-ray) review

[David Vaughn]

Studio: Disney
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Rating: PG-13
Film: 4/5

Plot
Bruce Willis stars as David Dunn, the sole survivor of a horrific train accident who escaped not only with his life, but without any injuries to speak of. Dunn's survival prompts a visit from Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), a crazed man who believes that David possesses superhuman strength and is a comic book hero come to life.

My Thoughts
The first time I saw this was back in 2008 on Blu-ray and I wasn’t really a fan. For starters, I had never been engaged in the comic book genre of films (Marvel has changed my outlook). Second, M. Night Shyamalan had blown me away with The Sixth Sense, but his twists became a bit predictable, and he hadn’t come close to equaling his first effort.

With 13 years between viewings, I wanted to see if I changed my mind. This franchise became a trilogy with Split and Glass being released over the past 4 years so I entered with a lot more knowledge of the universe and I must say, it helped a lot. I was able to escape into the story much easier this time around and really enjoyed the acting of both Willis and Jackson. Upon further review, this may be Shyamalan’s second-best film and time has improved it.

I went back and read my review from 2008 to see how I graded the picture quality, and it turns out I wasn’t impressed with the Blu-ray (scored it 7/10). Unfortunately, the UHD doesn’t improve things much. The first act of the film has numerous instances of overprocessed DNR and some severe black crush. In fact, Ralph Potts sent me a text while he was watching the UHD to compare notes, but I was out of town and didn’t get a chance to view it until a few days later. I completely concur with his concerns. On the plus side, the film does look better in the second and third acts, but I wouldn’t call it a reference presentation by any stretch.

The 5.1 PCM track from the Blu-ray has been updated to a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track for this release. Sadly, the Blu-ray had two encoding errors on it with some static-like noise in the right surround channel (8:30) in one scene and the center channel (1:28:21) in a second. No issues like that here, which is a plus. The soundtrack has excellent dynamics (when turned up a couple of dBs from my normal listening level), the dialog is always intelligible, and the LFE has plenty of punch.


Video 6.5/10

Audio 8.5/10 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)

Special Features:

• Deleted Scenes
  
  • Elijah Taken Away
  • Audrey in Waiting Room
  • David in Shower
  • Elijah at Fair
  • David with Priest
  • Audrey Calls David
  • Weightlifting in Locker Room
• Behind the Scenes
• Comic Books and Superheroes
• Night’s First Fight Sequence
• The Train Station Sequence: Storyboards & Final Scene
• 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy

Conclusion
Like a fine wine, this film has gotten better with time and now I see why it has such a strong following. Seeing the film in the context of a trilogy helped me get into the picture more and maybe because I knew how it ended helped me enjoy it that much more. The video presentation is a bit of a letdown but at least the audio track has been fixed.


Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
(Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 88” 16x9 Fixed Screen
Trinnov Altitude 16 Audio/Video Processor
ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
System Controller: URC MX-990
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
SVS PC-Ultra Cylinder Subwoofer
HSU VTF-15H MK2 Subwoofer
JL Audio Dominion F110 Subwoofer x 2
Mini DSP HD controlling all subwoofers
Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner

[bmoney]

Love this movie. And I don’t have it on. Murat for some odd reason so despite the poor video I’ll bite 

[Ralph P.]

Greetings,

Nice review Dave. It's too bad that this one didn't make for a wholly gratifying viewing experience in UHD.


Regards,

[tripplej]

what is the sequence to see this movie along with the other's? Split and Glass.

[David Vaughn]

what is the sequence to see this movie along with the other's? Split and Glass.

Unbreakable, Split, then Glass. 

[David Vaughn]

Greetings,

Nice review Dave. It's too bad that this one didn't make for a wholly gratifying viewing experience in UHD.


Regards,

Thanks Ralph. The scene in the department store was just as bad as you had told me. I thought they had cast The Blob in the role of the doctor

[tripplej]

Unbreakable, Split, then Glass.

Great. Thanks. will review again all three back to back to back.

[bmoney]

That would be a good three to watch back to back to bcak