89 Sixth Sense

Brief Synopsis (from Netfix)
When young Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) inexplicably starts seeing dead people, he lands in the care of child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), who is determined to uncover the truth behind Cole's remarkable paranormal abilities. M. Night Shyamalan writes and directs this plot twist-filled chiller, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Olivia Williams and Toni Collette co-star.

Spoiler Alert

In order to correctly talk about this movie we are all going to spoil a MAJOR plot point in this movie. So if you've lived in a closet for the last 10 years and don't know how this movie ends then I would skip this review until you check it out.

Bryan

"I see dead people"

I know that my quote is stereotypical, but in a way that is the point. This movie had such an effect on the film industry, and society as a whole, that the line has almost become universal. When we heard the line delivered again in this viewing, it was almost taken comically. The line had been so often spoofed, that seeing it played straight for the first time in so long felt funny.

This, however, was the only aspect of the movie that was less effective upon the second viewing, which surprised me considerably. I remember liking this movie, but I never saw it again. So much attention has been paid to the twist ending, and I was so impressed with the ending, that I felt like viewing it already knowing where it was heading would be repetitive and boring. In fact, in my viewing of Sophie's Choice, I mentioned how this was one of my main perceptions of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. That perception needs to be reexamined.

Knowing where we would end up allowed me to see a very interesting story with new eyes. The attention to detail was impressive, and rather than reveling in a mystery and trying very hard to guess what would happen next, I was allowed to switch my focus to a story of a boy struggling with a serious challenge. Seeing Bruce Willis more as a supporting character- like a narrator accounting someone else's tale, was a very interesting way to watch things again, and that is how I found myself seeing things. Willis's character may have gotten a lot of screen time, but I saw his scenes as a way to illustrate what the child, Cole, was struggling with.
I enjoyed this, more than I expected to.

Final Thought: Before viewing this, I would have said that I liked the movie, but that it wouldn't go on my list- and that Shyalmalan had better films. Allowing myself to watch with new eyes has forced me to question that. I would need to watch some of his other movies again with similar scrutiny, but I would say I am now in the fence as to whether this would make the cut. If it does, it will be in the lower section of the list, about where it appears now. It may clock in just above the 100 mark and miss out. Either way it certainly deserves consideration.

Jason


They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're dead.

This movie sucks...

That is what I would have written if I had written this before watching it again. This is the first movie that I have seen in a long time that I feel gained a lot, and I mean a lot in the second viewing. I used to hate this movie, probably because I felt it was always just a means to an end. What I mean by this is that M. Night came up with the idea of a movie where a guy is a ghost but doesn't know he's a ghost, and he then took this idea and just found the best way to get to that point. Though that's not at all what he did.

He found a way to put a dead man into almost every scene of the movie and have him "interact" with every character in the movie. Even though he should, according to the rules set by the movie, not be able to. I think the main contribution to pulling off this twist was the excellent acting by Willis's widow. When I first watched this I definitely over looked her, but without a spot on performance by her this movie would have lost something.

Final Thoughts- This movie is good, and I think it does a lot of really cool things. That being said it is not on my list. This movie changes every time you watch it. The first time, in my opinion, is mediocre at best. The second is enjoyable, but I feel like after that it becomes mediocre again. A kinda seeing behind the curtain effect. Lets be honest a movie that is on the 100 greatest movies list should be great the 1st time, the 2nd time and the 100th time and I just don't think this one would be.

Angel

Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone? I do. I do.

So for me watching this film was a bit of an interesting experience. I was the only one in the group who had not seen the entire film. As such it was a bit like watching it for the first and second time. Not to mention that "certain people" who reference parts of the film right before they actually occurred.

Getting that out of the way...

I think the way the film was shot was great. You can tell the effort that the movie makes went through to make sure that viewers felt like all of the dead were truly interacting with the real world while not breaking the rules that had been created for those who had passed. Knowing that Bruce Willis was dead from the start allowed me to appreciate the little details in how he was portrayed in the film.

Outside of the detail that went into the movie, I felt that the movie just felt a little flat. The ideas were great, the area getting cold, the color red, the dead not knowing that they were dead. Most of it worked great, like using red for when the dead interacted with the world. But it just did not add to what I thought was supposed to be a suspenseful movie. Maybe it was just me but I honestly did not find the film that scary.

Final Thoughts- Overall I think that this was a good film. The attention to the little things along with a script that is flawed but thought provoking make it something that people should see.

Alfredo

Yo no quiero morir!

I first saw this movie when it first came out on tape (man that was a long time ago). So I was fifteen at the oldest. It spooked me some (although little girls vomiting and talking at the same time has always frightened me) and I generally liked it. This was my first time seeing this movie since then. That having been said I think it speaks volumes about a film that I’ve seen only once, nearly a decade ago, and can still remember scenes and lines (sorry Angel).

The Sixth Sense was a decent movie when I first saw it and just really fun to watch the second time around. Because we all (at the very least) knew how the movie ended we spent probably about half the time just talking about what was going on, giving our opinions about the characters and their actions. Like Bladerunner before hand I think that really adds to a movie.

It’s funny because when I think of Bruce Willis, I like almost any other person think of a modern day cowboy (Yippie-kai-yay Mr. Falcon). He’s not the person I would have picked for this role had I been the casting director, but I’m really glad he was. He was phenomenal in this he didn’t just do a ghost version of John McClane (that’s right he’s D-E-D ded). Both Toni Collette and Olivia Williams were outstanding in their roles as well.

Final Thoughts – I think this movie did what it set out to do and it did it well. It may not be the best thriller out there but I think the ones that surpass it are already on this list anyway. Like any good thriller it makes you think and keeps you on edge. You get an added bonus if by now you some how don’t know the ending. I might put it a little lower on the list myself but I still think this movie has earned it’s spot on this list.