Rent The Sixth Sense on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
A child psychologist starts treating a young boy with a disturbing secret.
Verdict
The pacing and plotting in this are excellent, revealing just enough to pull you into the mystery and blow you away when we discover what's going on. It's a movie built on the twist ending, but that's aided by the excellent acting from Willis and especially Osment. It's a twist so big and so well done that this movie has become a pop culture icon and with good reason. The twist lands perfectly because of the scripts quality. It builds perfectly from beginning to end.
Watch It.
Review
Having just watched The Usual Suspects, a movie made by the ending, this is another movie known for it's conclusion. I saw this when it first came out, but after knowing the ending it's a different experience watching it again. The plotting and pacing of the movie is great, knowing when to expand the story and how to reel you in.
This jumps right to intense in nearly the first scene. Psychiatrist Malcolm (Bruce Willis) has won an award for his work and dedication to his job, but a former patient Vincent (Donnie Wahlberg) breaks into his house, distraught that Malcolm could never help him.
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| Hayley Joel Osment, Bruce Willis play Cole, Malcolm |
Later Malcolm is trying to help Cole (Haley Joel Osment), a boy with similar issues as Vincent. Malcolm sees this as a second chance to make things right. He must help Cole, even if it means neglecting his wife. Seeing this a second time, there are plenty of clues that you'd only clock watching this after knowing what happens. Osment does a great job, not just for a kid, for any actor.
It's clear Cole is different. He has difficulty making friends as people think he's weird. Cole knows things he couldn't possibly be aware. When some kids bully him and lock him in a closet, he's terrified. Something happens in the closet. Cole's mom thinks it's the bullies, but we know it's something more, supernatural. What is it? When Cole shares his secret with Malcolm, Malcolm thinks it's psychosomatic. We're left to deduce how it manifests, and once Cole shares the secret we begin to see the world as he does.
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| Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment play Lynn, Cole |
The movie does such a great job of slowly building tension. We learn more about Cole a piece at a time. At first we're skeptical, but then we start to wonder, and then we see it. It's helped by Osment's performance. The difficult part for Cole's mom is that she doesn't understand these visions. She can't imagine such a thing is real, most people can't.
Malcolm suggests Cole try to help the people he sees. That's dangerous, even Malcolm hasn't seen the horrors Cole and the audience have at this point. Cole is terrified, but it takes a lot of courage to not run away from a ghost and ask them what help they need. Cole does help, revealing to her father what happened to a young girl.
The conversation Cole has with his mom where he reveals his secret is intense. We see his mom relieved he's willing to speak, but she soon becomes doubtful he's telling the truth. The more he tells her, she knows he couldn't possibly know these things.
This is one of those movies where everyone was shocked at the ending. The conclusion makes the movie, and this provides some big hints early that many people like to claim they saw but didn't. It's not just the way this ends, but this has some incredibly tense moment. The conclusion is so effective because of the excellent pacing. The way this reveals information leads us right to the end, building perfectly.
If you've seen this movie, Nate Bargatze has a great joke about the premise.
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