Dir. M. Night Shyamalan
M. Night Shyamalan's Eastrail 177 Trilogy might be one of the most audacious yet underrated superhero series ever made. The series, beginning in 2000 with Unbreakable, was released before the current Marvel superhero craze took over and in recent years has become a cult classic. The film depicts an average man (Bruce Willis) who comes to terms with the fact that he has extraordinary powers that can be used to stop crimes. Sixteen years after Unbreakable, the film Split was released and shocked audiences with an end credit featuring Willis reprising his role from Unbreakable. Split features James McAvoy portraying Kevin Wendell Crumb, a young man with split personality disorder who kidnaps a group of girls. The final film of the trilogy, Glass, finds David Dunn still fighting crime around Philadelphia with help from his son, leading him to cross paths with Crumb. Both are arrested and sent to an institution where Samuel L. Jackson's Elijah Price (introduced in Unbreakable) is being held as well.
Unbreakable, the first film of this trilogy, comes across as an indie thriller concerning a family man whose home-life is falling apart. After surviving a train wreck David Dunn, meets Elijah Price who introduces him into the world of comic books. Elijah believes these comics tell the story of humans with superpowers and wants David to use his powers. The film is much different than the superhero movies audiences have grown accustomed to now. Unbreakable features little to no CGI, no buildings being destroyed, and very little action sequences. Released in 2000, Unbreakable flew under the radar and went onto become a cult classic, and even taught in film classes. Personally, I consider Unbreakable to be the best film in the trilogy. I find it to be a charismatic thriller that took risks, slowly growing from the story of a middle-class working man to the story of a vigilante being manipulated by a superhero-loving art collector, released at a time when superhero movies were not the blockbusters that they are now. Perhaps had Unbreakable been released later, say 2015, it might have found a larger audience.
The trilogy's most popular and mainstream film, Split, seems to be a completely stand-alone movie until the reveal of Bruce Willis at the end. The only common factor Split seems to have with Unbreakable is the location. Both film's take place in Philadelphia, Shyamalan's hometown. Split is much more of a horror film than Unbreakable or Glass, but also involves more comedic moments, usually coming from McAvoy's performance in which he portrays around 9 different "personalities" that his character Kevin has. While most of these personalities are harmless, Kevin's 24th personality The Beast can bend metal bars and crawl on ceilings. Where Unbreakable shows the origins of a hero, Split shows the origins of a villain, leading to a necessary meeting of the two in Glass. Split was a hit upon release, prompting many to finally discover Unbreakable for the first time, and creating the perfect opportunity for Shyamalan to complete his trilogy.
The final film in the trilogy, Glass, is the culmination of 19 years of work involving the characters from all three films. Glass finally centers on Elijah Price aka Mr. Glass, who has orchestrated the main characters ending up together in an institution. Glass wants to prove to the world that superheroes exist by luring Crumb aka The Beast out into Philadelphia, forcing Dunn to stop him. While this is happening, all three are trying to be convinced that they do not have these powers but are actually delusional. As in any good superhero film, the hero and villain(s) finally meet for a final battle. Glass is filmed similarly to Unbreakable, feeling like an indie film, but contains traces of a much larger film.
This trilogy of movies is the product of a director's vision and life's work, and is the perfect example of fighting to keep control over creative vision. Shyamalan almost completely funded these three movies with his own money, and it paid off in the end, with Split being the highest grossing Return on Investment film of 2016.
While these films are not the usual superhero movies audiences are used now, they are refreshing and original. Original content is harder to come across in the current film industry of reboots and adaptations. I would recommend these movies to anyone who wants to watch something original and different than anything else out there.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Recommended for fans of: thrillers, superheroes, indies, Signs (2002), The Sixth Sense (1999), sci-fi
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