Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette and Olivia Williams
Remember when M. Night Shyamalan didn't suck? Pepperidge Farm remembers. (/overused joke)
I'm not going to get into this guy's decline over the past decade or so, mainly because it's a steady spiral of suck that continues to this day and one that I'm actually convinced that I'm responsible for. Yes, me. Personally. Because after getting out of the theater from Signs, his third movie in a row with genuine surprises, scares and characters that popped right off the screen with likability, I told my friend at the time that this guy was the best director currently operating. And that was the point when he lost the ability to, you know, be good. So if you want to blame somebody for The Happening, look no further. Or maybe I just wanted to watch the world burn. Sometimes, I don't even know.
But that's where we're at now. This was 1999. By all accounts, a simpler time, back when Stone Cold and The Rock were the coolest dudes on television and Smash Mouth was the radio's favorite band. Summer rolls along and this nifty little thriller comes along that shocks everyone by becoming the highest-grossing movie of the year not named Star Wars on a relatively low budget. It features Bruce Willis working on the cheap, a whole smattering of good performances and a slow, slow, slow pace, baby. So slow that Prince has written numerous songs about it, which is something that I totally didn't make up just now.
Meet Malcolm Crowe, played by Bruce Willis in full-fledged actor mode as opposed to the guy who occasionally sleepwalks through action blockbusters. The script wastes no time giving us a reason to stick around, as this guy - a child psychologist who has just received some sort of bigwig award - retreats back home to celebrate with his wife before being accosted by former patient Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg). A jabbering lunatic who has some sort of huge vendetta against the psychiatrist who couldn't save him, this scene does seem to carry on for a long while - but in the good way, as Vincent shoots his former doctor before killing himself.
Flash forward one year, as Malcolm and his wife are now coldly distant. His confidence is shattered, and that's when he gets a new patient. Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is a 9-year-old kid whose condition is eerily similar to Vincent's. The movie does a fantastic job framing both characters and their respective struggles; Malcolm sees this case as his way to get back in his wife's good graces, while Cole's social standing and peculiarities (now there's a word that I don't think I've ever used on the blog before - the AFOREMENTIONED guy would be proud) immediately pop out as something that goes deeper than what we see on the surface.
The relationship between Malcolm and Cole is definitely what gets the most minutes, and for good reason, because the chemistry and the performances here are just top notch. I'm notorious by the 10 or so people that read this blog for my dislike of kids in scary movies, but Osment truly went above and beyond the call of duty here to make Cole something more than just a "creepy kid." He's nuanced and appropriately weird for a 9-year-old with a psychiatrist, but he's also likable and engaging. I'll just go ahead and say it - he should have won the Best Supporting Actor award over Michael Caine that year. But Willis isn't far behind. Hell, EVERYBODY isn't, as we also get a top notch turn from Toni Collette as Cole's worried mother. In addition to being hella hot (does anyone use the word "hella" anymore? Probably not), she's also got a charisma that pops off the screen, and I don't think it was ever utilized better than it was here.
Now, it goes without saying that pretty much everyone reading this knows what the movie's big slam-bang surprise was. Roughly halfway through the flick, we find out from Cole that the reason he's so scared all the time is because he sees Dead People. If I remember correctly, it was even used in the movie's commercials. But it can't be overstated just how skillfully Shyamalan set up this reveal all those years ago. First, he set up the characters, with both Malcolm and Cole being given plenty of sympathy and personality. We had ample reason to care about their struggles. And then he sprung the movie's main plot device on us. And that's when he started showing us some of the ghosts that haunt Cole on a daily basis, and since we had a reason to care, those scares were actually pretty damn effective.
Watching this movie today is almost a sad experience for that reason. This was a guy at the absolute height of his powers weaving a web that he clearly understood how to weave, even if the big plot twist came from an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? This story unravels at such a slow speed, likely a little too slow for people that are used to the Michael Bay school of film-making that was just starting to sink its teeth into action-blockbuster cinema around this time, but it's that pace that makes every scene, ghost encounter and surprise feel more important. It's also got a very clear, concisely told A-B character arc for Cole here as he learns that the curse that he lives with isn't so much of a curse, complete with a crime-solving finale that is almost stand-up-and-cheer worthy.
I don't pass out this praise often, but The Sixth Sense is still a must-see movie, and one of those flicks where everything fires on all cylinders - the direction, the performances, the writing, name it, it's f**kin' great. How does a guy go from this to some of the most universally reviled movies in history? It really is a fascinating conundrum, maybe even a better one that every first-time viewer went through with this movie. So...maybe M. Night Shyamalan's career is the ultimate twist ending? Greatest director of all time confirmed.
**** out of ****. Scary and powerful at the same time, this is just a movie that's worth checking out.
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