Intriguing, moving, but nothing extraordinary

Rating: Null/10 (8 October 1999)

"The Sixth Sense" doesn't really make "sense" to me. After listening to all the hype and seeing the massive money it's raking in, I thought it would be a memorable and effective movie. Well, it didn't really turn out that way for me, I can safely say that it was a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it's fairly good, but it doesn't quite deliver all the goods like it seems to. I think the main thing that keeps this film's quality from declining are it's performances and it's rich sense of poignancy. Terror doesn't seem to strike very largely or often, with the exception of it's eerie atmosphere and one "jump scene", frights are practically absent. The child (forgot his name) delivers an excellent performance as the tortured boy who sees dead people, he breathes life into what could of been an annoying, one-dimensional character. I thought Bruce Willis was going to be mediocre, considering that this is his first "serious" role, but he was surprisingly convincing as the boy's counsellor. Toni Collette's character was sketchy, but the complicated relationship between her and her son really affected me, it was actually quite moving, especially towards the end. The movie's main flaw is it's sluggish pace and occasionally wooden script, there were some parts that just didn't persuade me, like there was zero power. To be honest, the whole ghost aspect of the film's story was quite weak, it seemed to be more of a backdrop than a plot, but it did quickly get better when it reached the shocking conclusion. All in all, "The Sixth Sense" is a good movie in some ways and a fair one in others, overall, it's really the performances that keeps this film worthwhile and interesting.