Philadelphia security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is going through a failing marriage and an identity crisis.
His life changes instantly when he becomes the sole survivor of a catastrophic train crash – the Eastrail 177 disaster – which kills all of the other 131 passengers. Incredibly, David walks away from the wreckage without a scratch or a bruise.
Shortly afterwards, David is contacted by Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a comic book art dealer who suffers from a rare genetic disease called osteogenesis imperfecta type I.
Elijah’s bones are so brittle that they shatter under the slightest impact, earning him the childhood nickname “Mr Glass.”
He presents David with a radical theory: that comic books are a modern distortion of ancient historical records, and that if someone as fragile as Elijah exists at one extreme of the human spectrum, someone “unbreakable” must exist at the other.
David is forced to confront the implausible possibility that he possesses superhuman strength and invulnerability.
After David embraces his abilities and saves two children from a sadistic home invader, the film ends with a shocking revelation.
Shaking Elijah’s hand and using his psychometric abilities (the ability to perceive the history of an object or person through physical contact), David discovers that Elijah intentionally engineered three massive public disasters – an airport bombing, a hotel fire, and the very Eastrail 177 train crash that David survived – killing hundreds of people in the process, in his obsessive attempt to find out if an “unbreakable” person truly exists to balance his own existence.
Director M. Night Shyamalan (hot on the heels of global success with The Sixth Sense) intentionally structured the movie to feel like a classic comic book origin story told in the style of an indie psychological drama.
The cinematography uses distinct comic-book framing techniques, often shooting through door frames or reflections to mimic comic panels.
Shyamalan went on to write and direct two sequels: Split (2016) and Glass (2019), forming a thriller trilogy.
David Dunn
Bruce Willis Elijah Price
Samuel L. Jackson Audrey Dunn
Robin Wright Penn Joseph Dunn
Spencer Treat Clark Elijah’s Mother
Charlayne Woodard Dr Mathison
Eamonn Walker Kelly
Leslie Stefanson Elijah Age 13
Johnny Hiram Jamison Babysitter
Michaelia Carroll Comic Book Clerk
Bostin Christopher School Nurse
Elizabeth Lawrence David Dunn Age 20
Davis Duffield Audrey Inverso Age 20
Laura Regan Noel
Richard Council Hostage Father
Anthony Lawton Hostage Girl
Julia Yorks Hostage Boy
John Patrick Amedori Stadium Drug Dealer
M. Night Shyamalan
Director
M. Night Shyamalan
Video
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Shortly afterwards, David is contacted by Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a comic book art dealer who suffers from a rare genetic disease called osteogenesis imperfecta type I.
Shaking Elijah’s hand and using his psychometric abilities (the ability to perceive the history of an object or person through physical contact), David discovers that Elijah intentionally engineered three massive public disasters – an airport bombing, a hotel fire, and the very Eastrail 177 train crash that David survived – killing hundreds of people in the process, in his obsessive attempt to find out if an “unbreakable” person truly exists to balance his own existence.
