Bruce Willis plays child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe. He takes on a young patient named Cole Sear (another name you'd only hear in the movies, played by Haley Joel Osment). Cole has some fear that he can't communicate to the world, but it's something that hurts him both physically and mentally and it's up to Dr. Crowe to help him. Crowe needs to redeem himself because a former patient of his didn't get the help he needed, and one night broke into Crowe's apartment, and shot Crowe before turning the gun on himself. So in Crowe's mind, helping Cole is as much about helping himself, as it is helping the child. When Crowe uncovers the mystery of Cole's fear, it makes him come to a terrifying realization about himself that changes his life forever.
So like I said before, for the most part, this movie was very slow moving and never seemed to get to the point. Osment's acting was spectacular for someone so young. He truly seemed afraid at every turn and you felt really sorry for him. Willis seemed to be going through the motions in this one, but I think he understood that the movie was about the kid and not about him, so he needed to be a little more reserved that normal. It's not giving away too much to say that this movie has the mother of all plot twists and when that happened, it really made the movie special. Not many times do you leave a theater actually talking about what just happened and trying to figure it all out. That's what made the movie so entertaining, and why it's been making all this money. People leave the theater not thinking about the boring part, but thinking about the ending. The screenplay itself was just ok. Some of the dialogue seemed extremely cheesy and unnecessary. And there was way too much whispering. A few people I've talked to even said the movie was confusing until the very end. For a truly great movie I think it needed to be entertaining right up until the big twist, and then have the twist take it up to a whole other level, rather than being a so-so movie that becomes good at the end. See below.
I would definitely watch The Sixth Sense over, and over, and over again.
SPOILER
The big twist of course at the end is that Dr. Crowe realizes that he is one of the dead people that Cole can see and talk to. When that hit, it absolutely stunned me. I was not ready for that to be the big plot twist I had heard about. Immediately I think everyone in the theater started to replay the entire movie to make sure it was all possible. And for the most part the screenplay was solid enough that it was possible, especially with the seemingly thrown away line of, "dead people only see what they want to see". It's a line that by itself didn't mean anything, but once Crowe realized he was dead, it all came rushing back.
But here's my question. Did Crowe not interact with a single person in this movie? When he was at the hospital, did he not talk to one of the doctors? Did he never try and talk to Cole's mother? Wouldn't he have thought at least that people were ignoring him? There's a scene that starts off by showing Dr. Crowe and Cole's mother sitting in chairs facing each other in her living room. In walks Cole, and Dr. Crowe starts talking to him. What was going on prior to the scene beginning? How did Dr, Crowe get into the home? I know in the movie Cole said that dead people don't think they're dead, but you would think that when one of them tried to talk to a living person they'd realize something was up. Somehow I don't buy the dead people only see what they want to see line covering up the fact that Crowe didn't talk to a single person throughout the film. But otherwise the ending was a very good surprise and completely changed my opinion of the film. So go see it.
So like I said before, for the most part, this movie was very slow moving and never seemed to get to the point. Osment's acting was spectacular for someone so young. He truly seemed afraid at every turn and you felt really sorry for him. Willis seemed to be going through the motions in this one, but I think he understood that the movie was about the kid and not about him, so he needed to be a little more reserved that normal. It's not giving away too much to say that this movie has the mother of all plot twists and when that happened, it really made the movie special. Not many times do you leave a theater actually talking about what just happened and trying to figure it all out. That's what made the movie so entertaining, and why it's been making all this money. People leave the theater not thinking about the boring part, but thinking about the ending. The screenplay itself was just ok. Some of the dialogue seemed extremely cheesy and unnecessary. And there was way too much whispering. A few people I've talked to even said the movie was confusing until the very end. For a truly great movie I think it needed to be entertaining right up until the big twist, and then have the twist take it up to a whole other level, rather than being a so-so movie that becomes good at the end. See below.
I would definitely watch The Sixth Sense over, and over, and over again.
SPOILER
The big twist of course at the end is that Dr. Crowe realizes that he is one of the dead people that Cole can see and talk to. When that hit, it absolutely stunned me. I was not ready for that to be the big plot twist I had heard about. Immediately I think everyone in the theater started to replay the entire movie to make sure it was all possible. And for the most part the screenplay was solid enough that it was possible, especially with the seemingly thrown away line of, "dead people only see what they want to see". It's a line that by itself didn't mean anything, but once Crowe realized he was dead, it all came rushing back.
But here's my question. Did Crowe not interact with a single person in this movie? When he was at the hospital, did he not talk to one of the doctors? Did he never try and talk to Cole's mother? Wouldn't he have thought at least that people were ignoring him? There's a scene that starts off by showing Dr. Crowe and Cole's mother sitting in chairs facing each other in her living room. In walks Cole, and Dr. Crowe starts talking to him. What was going on prior to the scene beginning? How did Dr, Crowe get into the home? I know in the movie Cole said that dead people don't think they're dead, but you would think that when one of them tried to talk to a living person they'd realize something was up. Somehow I don't buy the dead people only see what they want to see line covering up the fact that Crowe didn't talk to a single person throughout the film. But otherwise the ending was a very good surprise and completely changed my opinion of the film. So go see it.