If You haven't seen this movie, DON'T READ FURTHER!!!

Rating: 10/10 (9 November 1999)

First of all anyone who trashes this movie either doesn't understand the movie fully or doesn't want to understand. Every actor in this movie played an important role and gave brilliant performances. Particularly Bruce Willis in his first successful serious role, definitley his best and Toni Collete for a fantastic portrayal of a single mother.
Now lets get into it... This is not a scary movie, the main issue here is the afterlife which would probably fall into a supernatural/psychological drama. This movie is about one mans journey into the afterlife.
As we begin the film, we see the final moments of Malcom Crowe's life. Note how his wife Anna and him communicate. When Vincent Grey actually enters the scene notice the striking physical resemblence to Cole Sear.
Could they be the same person? It is possible, notice the voice simmalarity, of young vincent. This leads to a theory that Crowe's life is flashing before his eyes and has stopped at where Vincent is a boy except his name is Cole yet they are the same person, however Crowe switches into the present every time he is with his wife. Which leads to questions like: Who is the young man Anna is with? Is it a younger Malcom? Why does Anna give this young man a first edition book?
Anyways back to the plot Crowe is confronted by a patient whom he has failed(Vincent/Cole?) before giving the chance to help, the patient shoots him and then himself. The movie begins one year after the murders. Crowe is waiting for Cole, and he is reading a file similar to Vincent's. Heres a question: If Crowe has been dead for a year where did he get the file? How did he know about Cole?
The film then journeys into the building of Crowe and Cole's relationship, the problems and triumphs Cole and Crowe have during the process and the frustrations and understandings Cole has with his Mum.

Notice how no one ever notices Crowe, yet Cole does. Can Cole See this? Does Cole Know Crowe is a Ghost? Now here are some things to think about: When Cole's Mum is looking at the photo's why is their no ghost's sprite when it shows the youngest picture of Cole? There are alot of first person views in Cole's house especially with his Mum,like she is being watched. These are all important but, pay attention to every scene Crowe is in and look at how he handles himself and how others handle him. He knows he is dead, he just forgets or wants to forget.
Cole sees ghosts they scare him, Why doesnt Crowe scare him? Crowe helps Cole with his problem, by telling him to listen to the ghosts and they will go away. Cole does this and he infact helps one and it goes away(crosses into the afterlife) he realises that he has a gift and he shouldnt be scared. He then helps Crowe with his problem, even though Crowe was dead he didn't know how to communicate with his wife. That really is Cole's role in the movie except one bit: How did Cole open so many drawers and cupboards so quickly? Did he infact do it? Why did the hand print appear then disappear afterwards?
Where as for his mum she just wanted to understand her son, and when she finally did he solved a grief she had for years and no bond could have been greater than her new bond with her son.
As for Crowe he is infact the main character, and the film is about him and how he helps a boy with a great gift that others dont understand, and how he deals with the fact he is dead.
The ending is a twist when watched for the first time, but when watched more than once it shows infact that even though Cole said "people don't know their dead" they do know they just dont want to admit it. The final moment is one of great WARMTH, LOVE, LIGHT and LIFE. The words he says here show that he in fact knew he was dead, HE JUST HAD A HARD TIME COPING WITH IT. This is a film of the ages and makes us think about death and the afterlife the way it should be looked at, this will forever be a film that will constantly bring up new things and intrigue us forever.