Cast
Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis)
Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment)
Lynn Sear (Toni Collette)
Anna Crowe (Olivia Williams)
Vincent Gray (Donnie Wahlberg)
Directed and Written by M. Night Shyamalan Rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, brief nudity, and violent images.
Running Time: 107 minutes Distributed by Touchstone

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The Sixth Sense is an outstanding and character driven film. Cole Sear (Osment) is a 9-year-old lonely child with a dark secret. Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Willis) is a fine psychologist who is trying to figure out Cole's secret and also help the child. As the two characters bond and develop a father-son relationship Cole reveals his secret to Crowe. He sees dead people all around him. Thus leading Crowe to try and figure out how to deal and live with is gift.

The Sixth Sense is a truly admirable film. Most people and critics will call this film a horror or psychological thriller. In which a lot of the movie is thrilling and scary, but I saw it as a drama. There is a whole backdrop of Crowe's relationship with his wife deteriorating and in relation with Cole, whose relationship with his mother is in turmoil. I thought these aspects and the strong relationship between Crowe and Cole is what made The Sixth Sense a drama with a different twist by having Cole see ghosts. If the supernatural aspect had been left out of this film, it would be very similar to films like Good Will Hunting. It is one of those films that people are going to put in a different medium. An example of this is James Cameron's The Terminator, it is not a science fiction, action blockbuster. The Terminator is a love story between Sarah Connor and Reese. The Sixth Sense will be depicted the same way, audiences will see it as a visual, not a story.

The acting in the film is strong and effective. Bruce Willis gives a fine performance as Dr. Malcolm Crowe. The Sixth Sense is one of Bruce Willis' best works. However, the breakthrough performance is by Haley Joel Osment as Cole. This young child can flat out act. He was seen before as Forrest, Jr. in Forrest Gump, and will probably be acting for years to come. George Lucas should have considered Osment as Anakin Skywalker instead of Jake Lloyd, at least Osment would have been believable.

The script for The Sixth Sense is carefully written and well developed. The characters are believable and the plot points occur at instantaneous moments in the film. The Sixth Sense also has a great and unpredictable ending. The Sixth Sense was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film as Dr. Hill.

The Sixth Sense does have scary and chilling moments but it's not a fright fest or a slasher film. It is a drama about two opposite people's lives and how they relate and help one another.

Report Card Grade: A-

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