Film Review: The Sixth Sense
DO NOT LET ANYONE TELL YOU THE END OF THIS MOVIE.
So I've got the warning out of the way. If someone does tell you the end of this movie, please e-mail CLUAS, giving us the name and address of the person and we'll send a twenty five stone wrestler around to "talk" with them.*
The film opens as Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Wills) celebrates with his wife, Anna (Oliva Williams) winning an award from the Mayor of Philadelphia. A ex-patent of Malcolm's (Donnie Wahlberg) breaks into the house and kills himself in their bathroom. The next fall (that's autumn to us on the other side of the pond) Malcolm takes on the case of Cole Sear. What exactly is the secret of the boy? Can Malcolm redeem himself by helping Cole? Malcolm's relationship with his wife is falling apart because of his over-involvement with cases, can he save his marriage?
To review this film correctly, you need to see the film twice. On leaving the cinema, many of you may want to go again. I'll be honest with you, I haven't seen it twice. But that doesn't mean you should not take my advice which is that you should drop everything you are doing and run to your nearest cinema.
If there was an Oscar for Best Use of the Medium of Film, M. Night Shyamalan would walk away with it. Both the writer and director, he crafts a film that is unnerving. It deals with the subject of death, the loss of innocence in a child, and the relationship between a single mother and her son. All the three main leads meet the demands place upon their characters. Toni Collette as Lynn Sear, the caring mother who is trying to deal with her unusual son. Haley Joel Osment as Cole, dealing with his "secret". And Bruce Wills who is torn between helping the boy or saving his marriage.
Many people declare that "The Sixth Sense" and "The Blair Witch Project" return the genre of horror without gore. "The Sixth Sense" succeeds were "The Blair Witch" didn't. This film will haunt you, both the performances and the central idea. This is not set in the woods but beside you.
"The Sixth Sense" tagline is "Not every gift is a blessing". It should have robbed "Psycho's" "Don't give the ending away - It's the only one we have". If you are reading this review after seeing the film, I will agree that there are some gaps but grab a person, take the opposite sides and start arguing because the gaps can be filled with logical poly-filler (or a weird logic). If you want to place a note on the discussion board, I'll argue with you. But whatever you do, place a large spoiler alert on the note or else I'll have to send Bernard over (the twenty five stone wrestler).
What will my last comment be? GO SEE "THE SIXTH SENSE"
Robert ('his final comments are becoming predictable') Lanigan
* Please note that services offered, may differ from those supplied.
