Good thriller

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2000)

I've got an unusual story to tell you about "The Sixth Sense". When I first saw this movie when it first came out last August, I didn't care for it that much. Then the movie continued to make tons of money at the box office. I kept asking myself "did I see this movie the wrong way?" I didn't find it all that scary. When I go to see a horror film, I expect some scares and shocks and this movie didn't seem to provide that. Then this past February it got 6 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. So on the basis of that, I went back to see it a second time. And you know what? It turns out that this movie is pretty good after all. The second time I saw "The Sixth Sense" I saw the movie as a drama instead of a horror film and on that basis it works. The one thing I do agree on (even when I saw it the first time) is the outstanding performance by eleven-year-old Haley Joel Osment as Cole Sear, the boy who "see's dead people". He's terrific in this film. I hope we'll see lots of him in years to come. Also terrific, Australian actress Toni Collette as Lynn, Cole's mother. I didn't even know see was from Down Under since she's playing an American. I was very happy that Osment and Collette received Oscar nominations for their performances here (I think they both should have won). Bruce Willis, who was not recognized by the Academy (unfairly), gives one of the best performances of his career as Dr. Malcolm Crowe, the child psychologist who tries to help the boy. "The Sixth Sense" is a well made thriller from an unknown writer-director, M. Night Shyamalan, who received Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Too bad he had to lose both (if "The Sixth Sense" had been based on a novel and Shyamalan had adapted the novel to the big screen, he would have won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay; the movie didn't have a chance against "American Beauty"). "The Sixth Sense" is definitely one of the biggest sleeper hits ever. Good job by all.
*** (out of four)