The Sixth Sense Review
by Serdar Yegulalp (serdar AT thegline DOT com)August 14th, 1999
The Sixth Sense (1999)
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A movie review by Serdar Yegulalp
Copyright 1999 by Serdar Yegulalp
"The Sixth Sense" absolutely blind-sided me. I don't know what I was expecting, in retrospect -- maybe something along the lines of "Poltergeist", with the spirits of the dead tormenting children in a special effects showdown. What I got was an absolutely breath-stopping story that probably ranks as one of the best movies of the whole year.
"The Sixth Sense" could be considered the antithesis of "The Haunting". That movie, with its gum-wrapper screenplay and gobs of CGI, inspired more audiences to laugh and sneer than to be scared or even thrilled. "The Sixth Sense" has the most minimal of surfaces concealing one of the most remarkable of stories, and needs no CGI to make its magic work.
Bruce Willis, in an atypically restrained and gentle role, plays Malcom Crowe, a gifted child psychologist. As the movie opens, he is confronted by one of his ex-patients, who rants that Crowe has failed him, and to punctuate this point turns a gun on himself. One year later, we find Crowe, humbled and sinking down into himself, estranged from his wife, and working on a new case: a young boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment), who is withdrawn and fearful.
One of the most shameless things that happened during the marketing of this movie was how several key secrets were revealed during the promotions. I don't want to make the same mistakes again, so allow me to tread very carefully here. Cole's terror comes from a peculiar gift he has, one which makes him very much a pariah and an outcast, but for reasons which become clearer later on. Crowe isn't sure what to make of the gift -- is the boy lying to get attention? -- but slowly casts more and more of his beliefs with the boy.
A description like this does not do this movie justice. On the surface, this is a fantastically well-made film: the timing and presentation of every scene is flawless. The director and screenwriter, M. Night Shyamalan, was responsible for the enjoyable but slight "Wide Awake" last year; nothing in that movie seemed to presage what "The Sixth Sense" would offer. Shyamalan has managed to infuse every scene in this movie with a primal dread that most other films can't even come close to.
Volumes have been written about Hale Joel Osment, as Cole. He is half the reason the film works as well as he does: his hollowed-out eyes, creaky voice, and disturbing visual tics let him steal every scene he's in. What's better is that it's not simply a gimmick performance; it's all inserted into the movie for a reason.
One of the most astounding things about this movie -- and again, I'm trying hard not to ruin anything -- is the way it plays on assumed knowledge. There is a revelation at the end, which I will not discuss here, that forces us to COMPLETELY re-evaluate everything we have seen and take it in a new light. Even better, it doesn't come off as a gratuitous gimmick, but as something that needs to happen to allow the characters their final moment of peace.
"The Sixth Sense" is the kind of rare movie that makes up for a whole season's worth of mediocrities and disappointments. See it, and for God's sake, don't ruin it for your friends.
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