Overall Rating
  Awesome: 63.74%
Worth A Look: 20.7%
Just Average: 3.85%
Pretty Crappy: 6.78%
Sucks: 4.95%
23 reviews, 408 user ratings
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| Sixth Sense, The |
by Slyder
"Revisiting the phenomenon of 1999"
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It’s been 9 years since The Sixth Sense arrived at the theaters and took the box office world by storm. I remember watching the previews of the film when it came out, and to be honest, I never thought much about it; mainly because of the fact that Bruce Willis had just recently started in two of the worst movies he’s ever made in The Jackal and Armageddon, so to see him this time in a suspenseful spooky story just didn’t appeal to me. But the hype and word of mouth kept at it, and the movie didn’t seem to go away. And then I heard about the huge commercial success it was and how it turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year, along with The Matrix and that POS movie called The Phantom Menace. Critical notices were somewhat divided, but mostly positive, but one thing was clear, it was a must-see. As much as I like film, due to one reason or another I don’t always necessarily go to the theater right at the very moment when the film comes out. Usually, I like to watch a film in my own terms, by myself, in the living room without any distractions and my utmost concentration in what I’m watching. Oh, and since English is my second language, subtitles/captions make sure I don’t lose a single ounce of dialogue.So when this film finally came out on video, I wasted no time and rented a copy. In my first viewing I was utterly amazed, and surprised not only by how creepy and scary this film is, but also at the famous ending, which completely caught me, off-guard. Ever since then, I’ve seen the film at least 3 times, with the 4th time coming this past night when I sat with my dad (who’s never seen it before) to watch it. There’s a general rule when you view movies which has rung largely true over the years that I’ve watched them, and it is that a film is a good film if it still holds up after a 2nd and 3rd viewing. In my latter viewings, the surprise element of the ending has worn down, and it’s now time to review and judge this movie as a whole and on its own merits.
In the city of Philadelphia, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) and his wife Anna (Olivia Williams) are celebrating an honorary plaque that the City has awarded to him in recognition for his work. The night of celebration however turns suddenly into a nightmare when one of Malcolm’s former patients, Vincent Grey (an almost unrecognizable Donnie Wahlberg) breaks into his house, confronting him and blaming him for his insanity, and then ultimately shooting Malcolm and then himself. A year passes, and Malcolm is struggling with his life; apparently his career has taken a downturn, and his personal life is a shambles as his wife Anna barely speaks to him anymore. However, he suddenly takes a compelling interest in his newest patient: a 9 year old boy named Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who apparently is being tormented by some unknown forces that has made his life a 24 hour dread. Cole’s mom, Lynn Sear (Toni Collette) is a divorced mom who’s trying to take care of Cole but at times feels overwhelmed at the fact that she can’t for some reason do anything to mend Cole’s daily anguishes and troubles. Malcolm however earns Cole’s trust enough to finally tell him his secret: He sees dead people all around him. Based on this discovery, Malcolm works to try and help Cole overcome his fear due to this unwanted psychic ability, and which will ultimately change their lives forever, for better and for worse.
So, what made this film so special? The first notable aspect about this film is how Writer/Director M. Night Shyamalan excises gore and cheap shocks of violence and aims towards a low-key approach which relies on moody set pieces, gray expressionistic colors (courtesy of veteran cinematographer Tak Fujimoto) highlighted by a rather interesting focus on the color red, which is displayed on several crucial scenes aiming towards a psychological effect, be it for danger or passion or anger amongst others. From the very beginning it’s clear that Shyamalan learned a lot of things from the work of people like Hitchcock and especially Steven Spielberg (Jaws) and Jack Clayton (The Innocents). The combination of these aforementioned elements plus the effective and chilling music by James Newton Howard and exceptional editing work by Andrew Mondshein bring about an atmosphere of pure primal fear, just like Spielberg had used to such great effect in Jaws. The dark settings and long passageways feel genuinely creepy, for you don’t know what’s on the other side of the camera, or what could appear in the background, and when the ghosts appear, they are genuinely frightening.
But this is one point that stands out of many, and it would not have been so effective if it weren’t for the incredibly outstanding performance by young Haley Joel Osment. Much has been said about his performance that to say anything else would be almost futile, but one cannot simply deny the power of his emotional range. His physical appearance points towards a geeky yet profoundly disturbed kid. His facial expression contains a lot of pain and anguish and his piercing eyes bring out a lot of depth and emotion and fear for what he doesn’t understand that you ultimately end up feeling what he goes through. Osment grabs this movie and carries it on his young shoulders throughout the entire duration of his character. Supporting him right there is Toni Collette as Cole’s mom Lynn. She’s also a damaged soul whom has lost many things in her life; yet she tries to be strong for her child and to raise him as best as she can as well as understand the anguishes and disturbing troubles her son is going through. Both Collette and Osment were nominated for Oscars for their work and they could not be more deserving. It’s thanks to their talents that the movie gains a ton of credibility, making their characters completely believable to us as ordinary human beings going though extraordinary circumstances.
The third and final point that holds this movie together is Shyamalan’s screenplay. Though he maybe a complete an utter hack today, his screenplay for this movie remains despite a few logistical hiccups, his most complete and most developed piece so far. The film you could say consists of two stories, both reliant upon each other but one more glaring than the other. Yes, it does tend to over-rely itself on its admittedly sly ending, and that may hinder the film’s impact over time, but this is ultimately a character study on human psyche, redemption, and ultimately closure. Both Malcolm and Cole go through a lot of things together, and Malcolm’s determination to help Cole in order to help himself goes hand in hand with Cole’s fears of the unknown, both helping each other towards a common goal: peace of mind. By the end of the movie, both characters are completely changed forever, and these changes affect the lives of the people that they love the most.
As Malcolm Crowe, Bruce Willis redeems himself from the utter embarrassments of his previous failures and delivers a low-key and understated performance, which contrasts perfectly with his younger costar. Willis is completely believable in the role, adding a rare depth and sadness that haunts his character ever since the tragic shooting occurred. It truly marks a welcome change of pace for an actor that was becoming typecast in action movies for most of his career. Olivia Williams is also good in the role of Malcolm’s recluse wife Anna. Due to the nature of her character, her performance is quite transparent and is probably the least developed character of the movie, but she manages to do a good job with what she was given to work with.In the end, this film is pretty much destined for classic status, and there’s a reason for that; it’s thoroughly engaging, scary as hell and most of all, very intelligent, and with a pair of outstanding performances. Unquestionably one of the most memorable horror/suspense movies to come out in recent years, its such a shame that M. Night Shyamalan abandoned those very same traits that made this film so great and went for the cheap shocks as well as making a huge cliché out of his “surprise ending” card. It’s probably also because of this that the film has somewhat diminished its status regarding that part. But don’t let that stop you from renting this flick; there’s more to this movie than just the ending. Trust me on this; this film is certainly a lot bigger and greater than the sum of its parts. 5-5
link directly to this review at http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=1862&reviewer=235
originally posted: 07/21/08 02:23:27
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USA
06-Aug-1999 (PG-13)
UK
N/A
Australia
07-Oct-1999 (MA)
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