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The Sixth Sense - Theaters
Writer: M. Night ShyamalanDirector: M. Night Shyamalan Producer: Frank Marshall Studio: Buena Vista Characters: Malcolm Crowe - Bruce Willis Cole Sear - Haley Joel Osment Anna Crowe - Olivia Williams Lynn Sear - Toni Collette Review: Let me just say right off the top that this movie made my chest hurt. I sat there thinking, "Is it because I can't breathe or is it because I'm so f*!#ng scared?" Heck, one may have everything to do with the other. Actually, the shortness of breath may have been caused by that "bejesus" thing jumping right out of my body. Unlike The Blair Witch Project, I didn't want to see what just walked down the hall or what was hiding behind the puppets. I wanted that little boy to do exactly what I was doing, cover his eyes and hum the Cheerios theme until the air got warm again. This movie starts rather slowly. Unlike any other summer blockbuster you will see this year, there are credits, actual credits for opening scenes. I must admit, I wanted them to roll a little faster. Yeah, I get the whole symbolism thing (words slowly appearing out of the darkness, yada yada yada), but I wanted to get right to the scary parts, which he did in short fashion. You begin in, of all places, a cellar while a woman chooses a bottle of wine. Right away you find yourself staring intently over her shoulder. Was that something that moved in the shadow? Did she notice something wrong with that bottle of wine? Oh geez, even she's got the willies so it must pop out anytime now. HURRY, HURRY, GET OUT....alas, nothing happens. In fact you run out of the room with her and are introduced to Anna and her husband, Malcolm, who has just received an award from the mayor for his outstanding work as a child psychologist. And, it came in a really expensive frame. Unfortunately, he's not as good as everyone thinks he is, especially the poor psycho Kevin upstairs who blames Malcolm for failing him and shoots Malcolm in the stomach and then himself in the head. (Kudos Donnie Whalberg for showing the world that it's not just your brother with the flair for acting. You went all out for the part. You scared me so bad that I totally quit imagining you doing the running man and telling me how you have the right stuff.) One year later, Malcolm has found another case with amazing similarities to Mr. Whalberg's character. It's a young boy named Cole Sear who speaks in Latin and has mysterious lesions and abrasions on his body. His mother, a very anxious woman who has good cause to be so, worries relentlessly over his anti-social behavior and also his tendancy to open every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen for no reason (Well, it had to be him, right? Who else was in the room? Hmmmm?) Cole is the local freak. People staring at him makes him holler (I can't imagine why) and he uses his Crayolas to depict images of horror and murder. Malcolm, in trying to analyze this child, can't see yet what he keeps missing, even in young Whalberg's case. But after some careful manipulation, he learns that Cole sees dead people...everywhere. They are standing outside his window. They are cooking in his kitchen. They are inviting him to their funerals. And the worst ones are hiding in the dark and ripping holes in his clothing. Malcolm is sucked into his work, because maybe this time, by helping this one child, he will make amends to poor Kevin (Whalberg) whom he failed so desperately. He becomes so engrossed in little Cole that he becomes distanced from his wife with predictable consequences. Without actually seeing any of the mysterious spectres, Malcolm convinces Cole to speak to them, to listen to them, and maybe even to help them. That's what they would be looking for, right? Help? Maybe. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat because you feel like at any moment some ghastly apparition will be standing just over Cole's shoulder or just in the background of the frame. You actually feel the tension and the fear Cole encounters daily by simply rolling over and opening his eyes when he has to go the bathroom in the middle of the night. You feel pain in your soul that a child that young is so tormented by charred corpses and gunshot wounds. All you want is for him not to be afraid anymore, so that you won't have to be either. The genius part is that the audience never really sees anything. Two thirds through the movie, while your stomach is twisting from anticipation, you finally get to see an arm in the frame, and in your brain, all hell brakes lose. Shyamalan wanted to create a pattern of fear in the audience to mirror Cole's fear and he did a magnificent job. Bruce Willis is brilliant and touching, showing an acting ability missing since his "Die Hard" days. He shows his human soul. He shows pain and he shows a human lack of control. What if he can't help Cole? What if he fails...again? Haley Jo Osment is rigid...in the best possible fashion. His character is controlled by what he sees on a daily basis and he shows that in every body movement, in every step he takes, and in every word that did or did not come from his mouth. Toni Collete is believable, if a little without spark, as a woman with nowhere to go and no answers left to her. She manages to go about her daily routine while facing that fear that she's losing the battle to protect her son. Just look at her face. Would she ever give up on him? I don't think so. The plot creeps along, then it shows too much, then it twists until finally you can't take it any more. You hurt. You hurt for all of them, because this is what really scares you. This fear of what's behind the door? And more important than that...What does it have to do with you? So you say Blair Witch dished out psychological fear? What about the fear that every moment you spend on the street, in your car, or even lying in your bed is actually spent with a dead and maybe angry spirit whispering to you but you just can't hear or see them. What if one day you heard? What if one day...you saw? --Tina Rivers
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