THE SIXTH SENSE
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1999 Christopher Null
filmcritic.com
Another week in '99, another horror film. But will THE SIXTH SENSE really scare you? Despite the title that is more reminiscent of LEPRECHAUN than THE EXORCIST, this is a genuinely creepy film with a solid story, great acting, and a surprise ending that not even a jaded critic like me saw coming.
The concept is that young Cole Sear (Osment) sees ghosts, and they torment him night and day, to the point of physical abuse. Desperate for help, he eventually hooks up with brilliant child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Willis), who tries to help him out.
Meanwhile, Cole's mom (Collette) and Malcolm's wife Anna (Williams) have problems of their own relating to the men in their lives. While these subplots are a bit sketchy at first, they do serve a purpose, coming full circle by the end of the picture.
Writer/director Shyamalan has a few credits under his belt (nothing I've ever seen, though), but his skill at combining the supernatural with the everyday here is pretty well-done, and is largely without intense special effects. As for acting, Willis actually does a credible job with his part, for the first time since 12 MONKEYS (1995).
Osment -- previously seen as Forrest Gump Jr. in FORREST GUMP, as the kid in the underrated BOGUS, and as Murphy Brown's son -- is stellar in his role. Although he over-enunciates to an extreme, he's an excellent actor, and I hope that will carry over to his adult roles later in life.
THE SIXTH SENSE is still a horror/thriller at its heart, so don't expect it to win any great flood of awards. But it's a solid film and the work of a meticulous writer, which is a rare pleasure these days.
RATING: ****
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: M. Night Shyamalan Producer: Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel Writer: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
http://movies.go.com/sixthsense/index.html
Christopher Null - null@filmcritic.com - http://www.filmcritic.com Author - Network Administrator's Reference, 1999, ISBN 0-07-882588-1 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0078825881/filmcriticcom
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