10 Bonkers Theories Roger Ebert Had About Famous Movies

5. The End Of Unbreakable Doesn't Work

What Ebert Said

Somehow, that M Night Shyamalan's greatest ending is pulled out of thin air:

"I mentioned the ending. I was not quite sold on it. It seems a little arbitrary, as if Shyamalan plucked it out of the air and tried to make it fit. To be sure, there are hints along the way about the direction the story may take, and maybe this movie, like The Sixth Sense, will play even better the second time - once you know where it's going. Even if the ending doesn't entirely succeed, it doesn't cheat, and it comes at the end of an uncommonly absorbing movie."

The Reality

On the question of arbitrariness, that's sort of the point of grand prestige twists like this: you're never supposed to see the hints until the mystery has been unveiled. That's the exact pleasure - recognising you've been duped despite expecting something to come all along.

But even considering the build, Unbreakable is based on some pretty typical superhero story pillars and the traditional binary of heroism and villainy. Watching it back, you can see the genetics of Mr Glass' origin just as much as you watch David Dunn's unfold. To suggest it comes out of nowhere is to suggest you haven't watched the film properly.