It is time that superhero products monopolize the movie and television screens. Whether in series or movies, year after year we see characters from comic strips in some new project. An issue that was very different in the late 90s and early 2000s, when few films of this type saw the light of day. One of them stood out without belonging to either Marvel or DC.
After surviving a devastating train accident in which all other passengers lose their lives, David Dunn meets Elijah Price, who presents him with a theory that could explain his survival. Accepting this revelation will not only challenge David’s perception of himself, but will also radically alter his life and that of his family. This is: The protected.
Known for thriller classics The sixth sense y SignsM. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed this film that also made a place for itself in popular culture. Released in 2000, also titled Unbreakable It completely changed the concept of superheroes. It showed us an ordinary man who simply cannot be harmed or hurt and his dilemma whether or not to be a hero.
Although its risky proposal has now gained acceptance from the public and critics, at the time the studio was afraid to bet on this genre. This is what the filmmaker said in an interview with GQ, where he explained that The protected was promoted as a thriller scary because “Nobody was going to see a movie about a comic book.”.
“They were saying, ‘We had one of the biggest movies of all time and the same two people are making another movie. Let’s make it look like that movie.’ Instead of what it was, which was the beginning of an entire genre. They didn’t realize it because they were too afraid to say the word ‘comic’”.
M. Night Shyamalan in an interview for GQ.
Due to this decision, the director’s fans were greatly disappointed as many expected it to have the same impact as The sixth sense. As expected, the final result did not meet those expectations.
“Other people were going back and forth, ‘That wasn’t scary,’ and I was like, ‘Who said it was going to be like that?’ Who said it was going to be scary?’ So I learned a very interesting lesson: if I am going to be the purveyor of original stories for my life, I have to get partners who understand that we are going to reinvent ourselves every time, and we should celebrate it.”
Curiously, another acclaimed Hollywood director not only praised this film, but also collaborated with its protagonists Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson years before. For Quentin Tarantino, the film represents Willis’ best performance in his career, in addition to contributing much more in narrative terms.
“It has the best performance that Bruce Willis has given in a movie. It’s also a brilliant reinterpretation of the Superman mythology. You can sum up what the movie is about in one sentence: What if Superman was here on Earth, but he didn’t know he was Superman?”
Quentin Tarantino, quote recovered by Far Out Magazine.
Despite everything, the film today maintains a better status and can be considered a precursor of this wave of films on par with X-Men. It is worth remembering that both films were released the same year. By 2002 it arrived Spider-Man by Sam Raimi, a project that ended up exploiting the popularity of this type of characters.
Furthermore, the film became a trilogy 16 years later with the release of Fragmentedwhere a man with multiple personality disorder is introduced. In Glass 2019, the three characters meet to face each other in a final battle.
If you like to enjoy The protectedyou can find it through Disney+. To see the rest of the franchise, find Fragmented available on Netflix, Max and Amazon Prime Video, while Glass on Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
