Tarantino Raves: Bruce Willis’s ‘Absolutely Brilliant’ Performance in Non-Tarantino Film!

Mention Quentin Tarantino and Bruce Willis together, and “Pulp Fiction” likely springs to mind. However, Tarantino believes Willis’s finest acting isn’t in their renowned 1994 movie, but rather in a film by another acclaimed director, M. Night Shyamalan – and it’s not “The Sixth Sense” either!

In a 2009 interview with Sky Movies (via Flicks), Quentin Tarantino listed, in alphabetical order, his top 20 favorite films released between 1992, the year he started directing, and 2009. At the end of this list was Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable.” During the discussion, Tarantino humbly acknowledged that this 2000 science fiction thriller featured his favorite performance by Bruce Willis.

“’Unbreakable’ showcases the greatest performance ever by Bruce Willis; I find him absolutely incredible in this film. ‘Unbreakable,’ which brilliantly reinterprets the Superman mythology, is one of the masterpieces of our time,” Tarantino stated.

To recap, “Unbreakable” portrays David, an unwilling “hero,” a man who miraculously survives a catastrophic and deadly train crash that kills every other passenger on board. He is then pursued by someone convinced – and trying to convince him – that his survival is actually the result of superhuman abilities. The film’s melancholic tone for its genre allowed Willis to deliver a wonderfully subdued performance.

A true outlier in the superhero genre, “Unbreakable” leaned into realism while embracing comic book conventions to weave the intertwined fates of two men, a vigilante (Bruce Willis) and his nemesis (Samuel L. Jackson). M. Night Shyamalan thus amazed millions of viewers worldwide, including the esteemed Tarantino himself.

Shyamalan later expanded the “Unbreakable” universe with “Split,” released 16 years later, which introduced new characters with potential powers, followed by the final installment of the trilogy, “Glass,” which concluded the saga in 2019.

“Unbreakable” is available for streaming on Disney+. As for the sequels, “Split” can be found on Max or VOD, and “Glass” on Prime Video or again on Disney+.