"I don't want to be scared anymore".

Rating: 8/10 (1 April 2011)

I have to admit, when I saw this film the first time, I never saw the twist coming. I'm thinking now I should have, like I should have been paying closer attention to the principals and their relationship to each other, but somehow they sneaked one past me. This film and "Unbreakable" made me a Shyamalan fan for a time, but then he went ahead and squandered it with "The Village" and "Lady in the Water", but that's another story.
Movie fans tuning in expecting to see a down and out horror flick here might come away disappointed. It's got some scary stuff to be sure, but I don't think that was the point. What the director was going for here was a treatment of the life after death theme, and the concept of lost souls hanging around until their mission in life has been accomplished. Watching the picture a second time, the clues become obvious, as when Dr. Crowe (Bruce Willis) responds to young Cole's (Haley Joel Osmont) question whether he was a good doctor - "Well, I used to be". 'Used' to be! Willis' character telegraphs the punch line for the viewer without making it overtly obvious, and that's the brilliance of the film.
I think this kid Osmont has a wonderful career ahead of him if he doesn't get sucked into the Britney Spears/Lindsay Lohan school of dysfunctional celebrity. Though he looked younger here than his actual age (11), I thought he did a superb job, especially during the heart wrenching admission when he confesses his ability to see 'dead people'. It was at that point that believers in the hereafter got on board with the theme of the film, that there's a life after death and that there are things that can't be rationally explained once a spirit passes on. Dr. Crowe realizes that it's time for him to move on once he's helped Cole get beyond his grief over a father that's abandoned him. In Cole Sear's case, it meant dealing with the visions of spirits who departed in conflicted circumstances instead of peacefully passing on.