Question about Unbreakable (possible spoiler)

[Borofan]

I've watched the movie a couple of times and there is something that is still confusing me (not hard):

The part when Bruce Willis searchers the bloke (the director in his cameo part) for drugs and Willis doesn't find any. Now, before that we see the director in the stadium toilets. Does he drop the drugs then? I just can't spot what happens.

[tj_director]

he may have passed them on to someone between that time, sold them etc.. or maybe it was just Bruce's paranoia getting the better of him -- and makes us doubt whether he has any power or if these things that happen are just coincedence. ???

[Cornelius]

I thought the whole scene was pointless and the director wanted to have a cameo in the film. Maybe he thinks he's hitchcock?

[Roy]

Yeah, I always wondered about that scene too.

I rationalised it by assuming that M Night Shawaddiwaddy was trying to plant the seed of doubt in the mind of the viewer that he had powers at all.

But then the train station sequence "proves" he does, so I'm not 100%.

To be honest I'm still not sure that he had special powers, I wondered if maybe the point was that he was a normal man who was prepared to do extraordinary things?

[Sputnik]

Isn't he seeing what the drug-possessor-bloke is about to do? :confused:

[Roy]

Don't know mate, but if he was then that wouldn't fit with his later vision of the caretaker guy breaking into the house would it?

I thought he could only see what people had done, not what they were about to do?

Going back to my first post, some of the deleted scenes actually removed most of the is he/isn't he question as it was a lot more obvious he was at least super strong.

[Bapapapa]

His 'spidey-sense' got confused, cos the guy washed his hands.

[Roy]

Oh it's only you Bap, I wondered why my dumbass sense was tingling....





:p

[Bapapapa]

:mad:

[Roy]

Heh, sorry mate :D

[Chief Brody]

There is a school of thought (see this months 'Empire' review of the year also) that the Willis character is looking into the future when he has these visions. Not so. He sees the crimes they have already committed at these points. Think of the scene where David sees guy carrying pistol into the stadium. He brushes past him and 'sees' (though the audience does not) that he is carrying a weapon, he is later proved to be correct. As Elijah says 'Maybe it's based on something as simple as instinct - have you ever tried to develop it?'. By the train station sequence, David has developed this skill to the point where he (and we the audience) can see the crimes for them/ourselves. As for the drug-dealing sequence, this occurs between the weapon in the stadium sequence and the train station sequence, so David is developing this skill without having quite mastered it (he is able to spot a mother that has beaten her child at this point too). He (and the audience) 'see' the dealer depositing his stash in the lavatory bin, David approaches and searches him probably knowing full well that he has no drugs on his person, but as a 'we're onto you, sunshine' kind of gesture. Hope that makes sense.

[pythons]

Originally posted by Chief Brody
There is a school of thought (see this months 'Empire' review of the year also) that the Willis character is looking into the future when he has these visions. Not so. He sees the crimes they have already committed at these points. Think of the scene where David sees guy carrying pistol into the stadium. He brushes past him and 'sees' (though the audience does not) that he is carrying a weapon, he is later proved to be correct. As Elijah says 'Maybe it's based on something as simple as instinct - have you ever tried to develop it?'. By the train station sequence, David has developed this skill to the point where he (and we the audience) can see the crimes for them/ourselves. As for the drug-dealing sequence, this occurs between the weapon in the stadium sequence and the train station sequence, so David is developing this skill without having quite mastered it (he is able to spot a mother that has beaten her child at this point too). He (and the audience) 'see' the dealer depositing his stash in the lavatory bin, David approaches and searches him probably knowing full well that he has no drugs on his person, but as a 'we're onto you, sunshine' kind of gesture. Hope that makes sense.

Interesting theory...

[Roy]

Yeah I can see that in terms of the development, but it implies that David was much more in control of the skill and what it meant earlier than he appeared to be.

I took the search scene to be David trying to understand what he had seen and being more confused because he didn't find anything.

In fact now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it was at that point that he realised that what he was seeing was in the past, because the dope was gone?

Maybe it was M Nights subtle way of making sure we knew that he saw past not future?