The Sixth Sense" is certainly different
from the kind of horror thriller that the advertisements make it out to
be. It's a film that demands patience as it slowly leads us down the path
that it's set out for us. When a film like this takes it's time, it's up
to us whether or not to choose to follow. "6th Sense" has an uncommon amount
of confidence in the way that it's paced. Facts are given out with a controlled
grace, a spark of storytelling electricity to lead the film on towards
another twist. We follow the story on a film like this not only for those
reasons, but for the reason that we're presented with fully written characters
as well as a smartly written screenplay.
It seems as if director M. Night Shayamalan
seems to be the first to harness the talents of Bruce Willis in what I
consider to be the best performance. At first glance, the performances
here seem to be muted, lacking any sort of intensity. Upon closer look
though, there's a subtlety to Willis's performance, a detail in the emotions
his character expresses, that hasn't been seen from him before. It's a
very impressive performance and actually, redeems the kind of performance
that he gave in "Armageddon".
The film revolves around a young boy named
Cole(Haley Joel Osment in what's easily one of the top performances of
the year so far) who is convinced that he can see spirits of the recently
dead- not only that, but that they try to talk to him. The doctor that
ends up aiding the young boy(played by Willis) is just coming off of problems
of his own as a former patient breaks into his house in a fury to start
the film, attacking him. He sees instant similarities in this boy with
the former patient that attacked him and he sets out to do his best not
to fail this patient. Only in going back to work, he's left his wife(an
excellent performance in a film full of many by "Rushmore"'s Oliva Williams)
behind, a "second place" in his life.
There's a lot of original tones and styles
presented in a story that has a backbone pleasingly similar to that of
Christopher McQuarrie's 1995 crime thriller, "The Usual Suspects". There
are plenty of twists and turns here as well, but the most interesting thing
is how the sort of "horror" material is presented. It's shown in such a
way that presents the characters as believing the facts about what this
child sees, and the most impressive thing is that the dialogue is written
so well that we believe that they believe in the supernatural- that they
can believe in the unbelievable. Cole hides his secret from his mother,
until an intensely acted scene later in the film that is not only well-acted,
but written extremely well. Ace cinematographer Tak Fujimoto also does
excellent work here, making interiors as well as the city streets chilling
as the camera creeps along.
If there's really anything wrong with this
picture, it's that it tends to become a little too slow for its own good
on occasion. When the film works, even though it's certainly a slow at
points, it maintains a strong sense of direction, never feeling aimless
or pointless. Still, the film could have used a little more consistent
tension throughout to help the audience through the slow points. There
could have been a slight bit of editing here and there as well. The ending
is one heck of a shocker, wildly suprising and completely believable almost
wrapping up the film too well.
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