Almost but not quite 6th Sense

Rating: Null/10 (10 December 2000)

In all honesty, I'd have to say M. Night Shyamalan has another hit on his hands and I did enjoy the movie. But it does suffer some from the inevetible comparison to what was in many peoples' eyes, a stunning debut.
Part of the problem watching the movie was just trying to figure out in advance just what the "big twist" was going to be and rest assured, I won't give it away here. But it's a sign of what is going to make a good movie go over not quite as well as the first. Everyone is waiting to see if M. Night can pull it off again or if The Sixth Sense was just a fluke, a flash in the pan as it were. I can assure you, he can still make a great movie that makes you feel for the characters, I just happened to like 6th Sense better, my opinion, and nothing more.
It's hard to describe the film exactly without spoiling the mystery and suspense Mr. Shyamalan tries so hard to instill in his movies so I won't try here. Suffice to say, it was enjoyable and the surprise was there, it's just a little more predictable this time.
Also ejoyable while watching is what appears to be the beginning of another little game in Shyamalan's movies, "Spot the Cameo". In 6th Sense I didn't realize where his cameo was (actually, didn't know there was one at all) until I watched the DVD special edition release with the interview where he mentioned a desire to play a part in his movie but kept it small because he had no illusions about his acting ability.
I figured he'd do it again and so my friends and I gladly played. I won't give it away here, but yes, he does it again and if you're like me, it's not where you think at first.
In all, go see it, enjoy it, just don't try to labour the point of comparing it to The Sixth Sense for too long or won't enjoy it no matter how good it is.