Enjoyed It

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2000)

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

I'd like to make a few comments about The Sixth Sense. I rather enjoyed it, and was completely taken by surprised by the twist at the end. But there a few points that slightly marred it for me. These are rather small points, mind you.
First of all, there are loose ends everywhere, which most people will probably have spotted. This is all right if you can turn off your critical mind for a couple of hours and just go with the flow, but for those who like everything neatly falling into place at the end, if fails quite conspicuously.
There was no need (I think) to suggest that the boy had mind-reading abilities (as when he unexpectedly told his teacher about his past) and then just drop the matter altogether. Mind-reading could be a subject for an entirely different film. As treated in The Sixth Sense it makes a couple of brief appearances, then sort of hangs outside the main story, not quite fitting in anywhere. This overloaded the plot for me somewhat. It should simply have been left out.
Also, I dislike having to be told explicitly what one should be able to understand on his own with little effort. An example is when Cole's mother is talking out loud in her sleep, and Cole overhears her saying something like "Cole, what's wrong with you?" etc. It should be obvious that she's worried about him -- she is his mother after all. Are we so dumb that it has to be spelt out in red for us? There are other such examples in the film. Also, when Willis's character visits Cole in hospital, and explains to him why he wants to help Cole so much, in essence spelling out the main storyline in clear, unambiguous, single syllables. Okay, he was talking to a ten-year old boy, but I can't help thinking that the scene was designed for the benefit of the audience. Willis's motivation was clear enough.
And then there's the fact that Willis's character, being dead, is not recognised by Cole as being dead, even though Cole recoils in horror at the sight of every other dead person he sees. Maybe I missed something -- could someone drop me an E-mail explaining why this is so? Thanks.
There is a difficulty in portraying convincing characters in a film that is intended to scare you. The spectacle rather overshadows the characters. It's hard to reconcile the two. This film did a much better job than most other films of this genre. On the whole I was entertained, but with a little more care it could have been a lot better.
Cheers,
Mike.