This one has a sweet spot in my heart. It was my favorite of his series. It had such a unique approach to giving the protagonist the "supernatural power". Sure, "triumph" in this one is "survive when every other person who encountered big bad dies horribly." I get ya.

That's sort of what I mean, though. There's this unstoppable force, and the thing that protects you from it is the pain you've suffered and overcome...this thing that made you an immovable object. I get where you're coming from. It just hit me completely different. I felt like "yes, all the pain that you suffered mattered, and led up to this moment of triumph." That's what I walked away with, anyways.

Do they?

I don't know. If I remember, it had a nice arc about damaged people having a powerful ability to fight against "the beast" that sort of resonated with me. I remember a feeling of empowerment after watching it. Like "all your pain matters". I thought it was beautiful.

James McAvoy is spectacular in this one. It's pretty great.