I remember liking this a lot way back when it was newer, but this is only the second time I've watched it. This movie works so well on multiple thematic levels while putting in strong performances and directing that it's strange that it doesn't get talked about more. Probably the single most interesting superhero film to me by nature of how it both embraces and deconstructs the myth of the truly extraordinary individual.

Because of the very grounded approach Shyamalan takes with his storytelling, this film also almost works as a straight examination of a relatable existential anguish: where do you belong in this world? Do you belong at all? What, if anything, makes you special? How terrible would it be to have something fundamental within your nature that goes unanswered because you don't recognize that it exists?

I find this film surprisingly affecting in its melancholy and quiet hopefulness. Because this is a Shyamalan film, that hope proves valid. If there was something I felt lacking here, it's only that I think the idea that people could have extraordinary gifts or qualities inside them should've been echoed in more characters. I'm not saying that everybody has to secretly be Unbreakable™ but that there's room in this "exceptional emerging from mundanity" framing to more explicitly drive home the idea that all people can have something remarkable buried within them.

Since this doesn't really happen in the film, I'd say that's where Shyamalan is embracing the myth of superheroes more than deconstructing it. I think mainly of the scene where the son expresses awe in his father but also sadness that he doesn't see his father's specialness in himself. There's an opportunity to examine what gift(s) the son may have that he doesn't recognize himself, but the closest we get is that the kid believes in his dad even when the man himself doesn't. There's something special in that belief, but it's not necessarily particular to the son as much as an archetypal example of how children can be less jaded than adults and so are more open to extraordinary possibilities.

I'm not about to let that distract me from this being a great film, though.