The
Sixth Sense
(1999)
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 Hour and 47 Minutes
Reviewer: Erik
Grade: BDon't believe the hype. Well, don't believe most of it.
"The Sixth Sense" isn't scary or gory or even very suspenseful. It barely qualifies as a horror film. It's not the greatest movie of all-time, the decade or even the year. But...the ending was all it's cracked out to be. So hang with this one.
Bruce Willis is Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who has just won an award from the city of Philadelphia, but will soon face an ex-patient who's lost his grip. The patient will injure Crowe and kill himself. Crowe vows to redeem himself, so months later, he finds a child named Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) who shows the same "symptoms". This is Crowe's second chance.
Sear is a quiet little boy with few friends, but a dark secret. He sees dead people everywhere, for they don't know they're dead. He also has run-ins with the dead that leave him scarred and bleeding. Cole's mom Lynn (Toni Collette) doesn't know what to do. Cole will not open up to her.
Meanwhile, as Crowe and Sear grow closer, which doesn't come easy, Crowe's relationship wit hhis wife Anna (Olivia Williams) deteriorates. They rarely talk anymore. Just being around one another is filled with awkward silence.
Crowe learns Sear's secret and is convinced the boy has serious mental problems. But all that will change when he looks into old notes about the patient who changed his life and hears things on a recorded interview.
If there's a complaint about the film, it's that Sear's situation isn't resolved with a bonafide, big climax. Sear's talents are proven in a good scene, but one that lacked any sort of thrills or chills.
The big thing, of course, is the mysterious ending you've heard about. All I'll say is, the clues are there the whole time, but don't expect to pick up on it. Most people didn't and I sure as heck didn't. If the ending doesn't sit well with you, either watch the film again or question someone close by who has a good eye/ear for detail.
Up until the ending, I thought "The Sixth Sense" was in the average-to-good territory. Osment's performance carries a lot of this film. It isn't your typical kid performance. The Oscar nomination was earned, although it's correct that he didn't win.
But then the ending really twisted things up to the point where I admired how slickly it had been pulled off. If nothing else, "The Sixth Sense" is a smart movie.