The Sixth Sense **1/2
rated PG-13 Hollywood Pictures 106 minutes starring Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Haley Joel Osment, Donnie Wahlberg, Glenn Fitzgerald written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
"The Sixth Sense", the new film from M. Night Shyamalan ("Wide Awake"), explores themes of death and the afterlife in the form of a psychological thriller. While the subject matter makes the film seem more existential that the usual big-budget fare, its entire depth is summed up in the film's signature line: "I see dead people".
Bruce Willis plays Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who is more devoted to his work than to his wife (Olivia Williams). One night, Malcolm is shot by a psychotic former patient (Donnie Wahlberg), but three months later, he is back on the job.
His next mission is trying to help a troubled 9-year-old boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment), who lives alone with his single mother (Toni Collette). The mother can't pinpoint exactly what's wrong with the child, but Malcolm makes it his priority, and spends all his time working on him. However, it takes half the film for Cole to admit that he can see dead people, who want to use him as their messenger.
Malcolm believes that Cole is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, but through a series of bizarre twists, he begins to understand that Cole is not hallucinating. However, when "The Sixth Sense" is over, Cole has still not conquered his inner demons, and Shyamalan's "brilliant" final twist feels like he's trying to shy away from the fact that he has not resolved the film's major conflict.
Combine that with a not-so-great script and a slow, dragging pace and you have an unsatisfying thriller. However, there are more than a few gripping moments in the film, and the dark tone is set perfectly by James Newton Howard's chilling score.
But what really saves "The Sixth Sense" is excellent acting, especially by Toniy Collette and child prodigy Haley Joel Osment. Anyone who has seen the preview knows that Osment steals the show from Bruce Willis, and in the film, he proves that child actors deserve better roles, for infact, they do have talent. M. Night Shyamalan (who appears in the film)'s movie has struck quite a chord with summer audiences, and he proves that one day he might make a fine film. "The Sixth Sense", however, is not quite it.
a review by Akiva Gottlieb, The Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://teenagemoviecritic.8m.com
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