Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg
Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Barry Mendel

The Nutshell

A child psychologist has to help a young boy who sees the dead.

The Review

    Imagine you could see the dead; all around you, every day, right there in front of you. What would you do? Would you go insane, or would you try to help them. Could you ignore them? Most importantly, how could you ever convince anyone else that they exist, and would you even want to? This is the problem plaguing young Cole (Osment) in The Sixth Sense. He sees the dead, and it is turning him into a bit of a freak, as his classmates thoughtfully dub him. How could anyone live a normal life when they see the hanged bodies of people executed decades ago? Luckily, he gets help in the form of Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Willis). Dr. Crowe is a noted child psychologist who sees in Cole a shot at redemption after failing a former patient with similar problems.

   The Sixth Sense could have been many different types of film. It could have been a special effects bonanza with walking dead everywhere; it could have been an action/drama with contrived car chase sequences etc. Instead, relative newcomer writer/director M. Night Shyamalan takes a dramatic, psychological approach that works well. The film places much attention on the mental state of the characters as the story unfolds. Haley Joel Osment (the young Forrest Gump) in particular emotes his feelings well, whether terror, anger or satisfaction. The walking dead do show up occasionally, often shocking and horrifying the audience; they appear quite dead, but not like the decomposed zombies of many lesser films.

    The great strength of The Sixth Sense is its plot. The story is told at a fairly slow pace, slow enough to warrant several watch checks throughout. However, as the story progresses to its surprising conclusion, things pick up and your brain is brought back to attention. They say that for live theatre to succeed, it needs a great beginning and a great ending. Everything else doesn't matter. While this doesn't always translate to the world of film, in this case it is a fitting statement. While mid-way through Sixth Sense, you might be asking yourself how it is possible that only an hour has passed since the film started, trust me when I say that you will be excitedly talking about the film with your friends afterwards.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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