The Sixth Sense (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
*** out of four
"I see dead people. Walking around like regular people."
Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams. Rated PG-13.
*Please note: I have found it exceedingly difficult to discuss this movie without going into plot details. While I have tried to be as vague as possible, if you plan to see this movie and want to stay completely clueless about its twists and turns, hold off reading what follows until you are a Sixth Sense virgin no more.
The ghost story is alive and well in Hollywood, it seems, with at least three high-profile films that fit the bill being released this year. In the infamous month of August, a notorious dumping ground for studios who want wash their hands of films with little potential, Spyglass Entertainment brings us The Sixth Sense, a somber, deceptively tricky supernatural thriller that, unlike guilty pleasure films like The Mummy, is a keeper for all the right reasons.
Bruce Willis is given his first role in a looooong time that requires him to actually -- gasp! -- act. He plays Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who becomes insecure after his failure with a patient and a subsequent incident with him. His latest patient is a child named Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a deeply troubled kid who is convinced he is a freak because of his peers' ceaseless tauntings. But there is more to him than meets the eye. Cole claims that he sees dead people who walk around like regular people. Their invariably gory fatal wounds are still intact. They want the boy to perform tasks that they themselves cannot.
Malcolm, the M.D. that he is, at first does not believe Cole and The Sixth Sense risks turning into another "Nobody believes me" story. Fortunately it makes a hairpin turn off that perilous path as the good doctor finds proof (dubious as it may be) of the phenomenon. Cole pleads with Malcolm to "please make them go away." How he is to accomplish that is a far more difficult matter.
The Sixth Sense is a triumph of calm, confident storytelling rather than the feverishly kinetic plotting and filming we've come to expect from Bruce Willis films. This movie is not slow, it's steady and constant. It's a hypnotically engaging horror mystery; scary, intriguing and mesmerizing. Here's a movie that is far more frightening yet far less lauded than The Blair Witch Project, a film that simply isn't nearly as horrifying as so many claim. The Sixth Sense on the other hand has more merit as a horror movie than many have given it.
I've despised Bruce Willis for his choice of projects (as opposed to lack of talent) but here he proves that he can handle a serious role. His is a nice, quiet, skilled performance, with barely a hint of his infamous trademark smirk. But, at the risk of repeating other critics, the real star of The Sixth Sense is little Haley Joel Osment, a frighteningly talented young actor who is more then up to his unconventionally challenging role. He not only holds his own in talky, complex sequences with Willis, but he outshines his older, more experienced co-star every chance he gets. The movie itself isn't an award contender but Osment's performance should not -- and I expect that it will not -- be forgotten come Oscar time.
My biggest problem with The Sixth Sense is the film's ending. It is a lot of things: shocking, creative, "cool" and a terrific way for director/screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan to show off his plotting prowess. What it's not, sadly, is a satisfactory denoument to all that preceded it. It represents a gear shift rather than a resolution. A more traditional conclusion may not have been as blindsiding or as showy but it would have worked better with respect to the storyline. Still, the ending that we are given will inspire many to go for a second viewing, or at least to rewind scenes in their had to search for the suddenly obvious clues to what was destined to happen.
The Sixth Sense is a psychological thriller for the patient, discerning viewer. It makes no attempt to appeal to those with short attention spans nor does it aim for the lowest common denominator. It's an intelligent, complex film (although mostly in retrospect) that flaunts strong performances, impressive direction and a denoument that will make your jaw drop, even if it does not resolve as much of the conflict as it should have. Here is a summer movie that isn't a "summer movie" at all. ©1999 Eugene Novikov‰
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