Year:
1999
Studio:
Hollywood Pictures/
Spyglass Entertainment
Movie:
4/5
DVD:
2/5
Teaser
Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist on the rebound.
After recovering from being shot by a former patient, he hasn't yet
gotten his groove back. His next case is helping one Cole Sear (Haley
Joel Osment), a young boy living with his single mother Lynn (Toni
Collette). There is something strange about Cole and his secret will
change Crowe's life.
Movie
"The Sixth Sense" was phenomenal in the box office. It had a good
opening but remarkably was able to maintain its revenue week after week
for months. I'm still not exactly sure why it did so well. At base it's
a supernatural mystery that develops slowly. It takes half the movie
before Cole tells Crowe his big secret and a little longer before Crowe
believes him. And then there is a resolution. Then the big surprise and
that's it.
It **is** a well executed movie. Once you know the ending, you can go
back and see how the rest of the movie is consistent and supports both
views of the movie. And that has become a mark of M Night Shyalaman,
firmly established in his next two movies.
Actors
This is the movie that put Haley Joel Osment on the map. Amazing child
actor delivering a serious performance. Toni Collette also put in a
great performance, especially her last emotional scene with Osment.
Olivia Williams, playing wife Anna Crowe, had a nice low-key and yet
important part that she did well.
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For Bruce
Willis this movie came at in the middle of his second rise to
major movie stardom. After the Die Hard movies there were a lot of not
great box office successes until Armageddon and then The Sixth Sense.
And although he is usually seen as an action star, movies like The
Sixth Sense show that he can be a good dramatic actor.
DVD
The movie is in widescreen format with English and French languages and
English subtitles. There are four to eight minute featurettes covering:
"Storyboard to Film Comparison", "The Cast", "Music and Sound Design",
"Reaching the Audience", "Rules and Clues", and "A Conversation with M
Night Shyalaman".
There are four deleted scenes including an extended ending -- the
deleted scenes being new material. The theatrical trailer, two
television spots, and cast and crew bios are also included. Rounding
the extras is a clip from Shyalaman's first horror film, done when he
was 11.
Recommendations
Seeing a movie that second time, especially after a few months or
years, can really change your opinion of a movie. When I first saw The
Sixth Sense it was 6 months after it came out and with a fairly good
idea of what was going on, having overheard my friends talk about it
though they were trying to be circumspect. Back then, I didn't see the
big deal.
Now, after watching the movie and seeing the featurettes, I can see why
this was such a successful movie. Personally, I still don't agree that
those things are all that important. But I can recognize that other
people do find them important and it is a well crafted movie that
deserves a recommendation.
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