A surprising masterpiece!

Rating: Null/10 (3 August 1999)

Sometime Bruce Willis can make some bad films, like HUDSON HAWK and MERCURY RISING. And other times he can make some films that change the film industry and blow the audiences away (i.e. DIE HARD triology, 12 MONKEYS, and PULP FICTION). Now Willis' new film, THE 6th SENSE falls in the latter catageory, as a surprising masterpiece that will leave images stuck in your mind for quite sometime. Willis plays Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, who is quite good at his job, he has a loving wife named Anna (played by the beautiful Olivia Williams), and he just got awarded by the mayor of Philadelpia for his excellent work. Then one night, Malcolm gets a terrifying unexpected visit from one of his former patients. The visit is so terrifying, that it haunts Malcolm later on. Months later, Malcolm's job is going downhill, and his marriage is falling apart. Then his life is changed around when he meets Cole, a eight year old boy who is considered a "freak" by everybody but his mom. Cole is usually alone, scared, and has cuts and bruses on his body. The doctors and social workers think the injuries come from his mom, Lynn Sear (Toni Collette). But Lynn loves Cole too much that she wouldn't even think of harming him. The truth is that the injuries that Cole has are from other people, people that Cole only sees, people that are dead. Cole sees dead people walking around with the living, and only Cole sees these ghostly figures. Malcolm tries to help Cole with his unique gift, and to also find out what these ghostly figures want with him. When I saw the trailers for this movie, it looked like a o.k. movie. Acutally, the preview didn't have any effect on me at all, as for seeing this film. But when I saw this film, I was blown away on how excellent this was! This is a highly entertaining film that is scary, sad, funny, and even touching. The plot is brilliant, it has intellegence, and shows the personalities of the characters well enough that you feel like that you know them after the movie is over. The acting is also great, Willis does a good job as the doctor trying to help poor Cole. Toni Collette is also great as the suffering mom who's very worried and protective over Cole. Oliva Williams is good as well as the suffering wife of the doctor who feels that she's losing her husband more and more everyday. But the real surprise is Haley Joel Osment, who plays the little boy, Cole. For a child actor he's excellent! He shows potential to becomming a great actor in years to come. He's the next promising child actor that will hopefully do well like Elija Wood and Anna Panquin. Overall, THE 6th SENSE took me by surprised, and I ended up loving this film. I would have to place this film as one of the best films of the year, as well as for the summer films. And for a PG13 rated film, it's quite scary! This is one film that no one should miss!!! ***** (out of five)