Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Haley Joel Osment, Donnie Wahlberg
Rating: [4/5]
While twists have existed for the entire history of cinema, the way they exhilarate in pulling the rug from under the audience’s feet creates an exhilarating feeling. This especially becomes the case when the audience does not see it coming. The Sixth Sense famously carries one of the more famous twists in the history of cinema, but leading up to it we receive a chilling and impactful familial drama going straight to the heart as well.
Following a shooting at his home, Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), a famed child psychologist goes to his next appointment with a troubled young boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment). As Malcolm attempts to get to the core of what ails the boy, he tries to smooth over the issues he begins to have at home following the shooting.
The Sixth Sense does so much more through its narrative other than create a devastating twist, which lies in the familial relationships of the two males within this movie. For Cole, this occurs with his mother Lynn (Toni Colette) and for Malcolm, it’s his wife Anna (Olivia Williams). The way they struggle in their own ways to communicate with them throughout this stressful process creates emotional hurdles needing to be cleared for their own good. When receiving the resolution to each of their circumstances it provides such a moment of catharsis, which ultimately remains the soul of the feature.
The performers certainly deserve credit which will be addressed later in the review, but so much of what works in this film lies in the screenplay. As much criticism as M. Night Shyamalan has rightfully received for his lackluster writing at times, he crafts something quite beautiful with this story. He jumps between genres so effortlessly where you go through the fear of this circumstance for Cole while also dealing with the relationships each of them embattles. Each of them sounds like real people navigating the trauma occurring throughout this feature issuing his greatest work to date. Shyamalan thus creates something incredibly impactful on an emotional level and demonstrates the care he has for these characters.
This feature certainly carries the mantle of existing as a horror film, but the more you watch it the more the scares involved do not necessarily land and it leans more into the dramatic areas of the story. Famously having the ability to see dead people, Cole sees ghosts who still evidently have something for them remaining on Earth not letting them move on. In the instances in which he sees them, they display anger and despair toward him as they ask him to complete something. In certain instances, it exists to provide them closure. The horror they bring to the narrative exists not only in their existence as ghosts but also because they display the wound that ultimately took them out crafting some unsettling scenes. One of the more effective ones is the ghost who died from a gunshot wound to the head and Cole sees him walk by with the aftermath. Again, they don’t carry as much horror but more so add to the coloring of Cole’s experience and what he must come to accept with the curse he possesses.
As for the performances we certainly get some extravagant ones with the one deserving the most praise from the get-go being Toni Collete. Portraying the mother stuck in a horrible circumstance of trying to figure out the issues with her son while trying to keep her own sanity pushes Colette to deliver one of her finer performances within an illustrious career. This character certainly fits a specific archetype of a distressed mother in a horror film, but she ensures to add a degree of genuine humanity to the character and the inherent stress this situation would create. She gets some moments to well and truly flex her muscles and does not waste the opportunity in doing so shining brighter than anyone else in the cast.
That does not mean we dismiss what Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment accomplish as this pair going through this tumultuous time together. Osment gives what remains regarded as one of the finest child performances ever put on and with good reason. She delivers a performance far beyond his years in handling the emotional complexity of this nine-year-old and the issues he encounters with seeing dead people and also trying to exist as a little kid. Willis, in turn, presents himself as the guide during this circumstance and delivers something quite special as well.
Still very much holding up many years later, The Sixth Sense carries the heft of trying to exist outside of the major twists it carries and it does so by crafting a touching drama of two families trying to mend after tragedy. It has genuine characters going through specific struggles allowing these actors to shine powered by M. Night Shyamalan’s top-notch screenplay. Quite the miracle this feature exists and it undoubtedly still has the goods.
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