A little bit obvious, a little too slow, but very very good.

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2000)

Without a doubt this is one of Hollywood's better movies, but the hype & audience buzz surrounding the "plot twist" only goes to show just how poor the competition is (need I mention such titles as the laughable remake of "The Haunting"?).
First of all Syamalan directs the cast with extraordinary dexterity & skill, the actors accomplishing this task in an equal manner. Hardest of all must have been Bruce Willis' part, as sticking to the rules of the game is not always as easy as it looks, although he would have had considerable help in the way the set was laid out for him to move through.
Osment is beleivable as any kid actor can be, with the vomitt inducing bucketloads of saccarrine,normal for this type of role, thankfully avoided. With Toni Collette as Osment's mother similarly avoiding easy cliches this is refreshing indeed! Olivia Williams hardly breaks surface in the plot, as the narrative mainly concerns Osment's portrayal of Cole Sear ("Sear" can be pronounced as "Seer", as in someone who "sees", any coincidence there?) & his interaction with Willis' Malcom Crowe, but again she handles the part with expertise & this is important, as it is key to the plot development.
Ah, that much talked about "plot". Well for me it was obvious about 30 minutes into the film & after that it dragged right up until the end. There were several scary moments, none the less, with the section about the dead child's video tape an awful & all too believable revelation. Shyamalan was also right not to jump straight in with the dead people that Osment is supposed to see, that would have been an all too easy mistake to make & if there was any pressure on him from the Hollywood "suits" to do so then I'm glad he resisted it. Similar lazyness has been completely avoided too, with no sex & no violence, all which would have been expected at some point, but is mercifully absent from a story line that doesn't need it.
Even if you work it out, the "plot twist" at the end is once again done with skill & with an understated style that still managed an air of chill. I was left thinking that the same level of inteligence had been used as shown in "The Usual Suspects", despite the completely different subject matter (the latter, I'll admit, really DID keep me guessing to the end). For the way in which it gets the whole ensemble right, with no weakness in any area, I'd rate this film very highly. It is too slow for me, but that's a purely personal preference & probably because I was lucky (or twisted) enough to pick up on the clues. Knowing that there WAS a plot twist helped, after all. But since it doesn't put a foot wrong all the way through, that has got to be something of a rarity these days & the film has to be applauded as well worth the effort of seeing.