The Sixth Sense
The worst thing to happen to this movie
is Bruce Willis. That may sound like an
insult, but it's not Bruce's acting that's
the problem. It's just that many people
will assume that this is no more than
another wham-bam "Bruce Willis movie."
It's not.
Bruce does an excellent job playing Dr.
Malcolm Crowe, and for once he's not
blowing up buildings or firing a machine
gun. In fact, he doesn't even throw a
punch. Sorry, Die Hard fans.
Not that Sixth Sense is short on
corpses. Bruce plays a child psychologist
tackling a strange case. It seems that a
smart and compassionate eight-year-old,
Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), is
seeing ghosts -- not just one or two, but
an army of zombie-like ghouls who
haunt the gothic streets of modern
Philadelphia. Young Cole is followed by
spirits who seem to want something
from him -- just what, he doesn't know.
With an intricate plot assembled with
the precision of a Chinese box, The
Sixth Sense scares the audience the
old-fashioned way. Eschewing the cheap
tricks of excessive gore and
computerized phantasms, chills come
out from the shadows of darkened
corners and, in at least one instance,
from under the bed.
There are a few secrets about this film's
twisting plot that shouldn't be exposed
in a review, but be assured, the frights
and surprises will impress even
seasoned suspense movie fans. One
secret that does deserve exposure is a
cameo-sized chunk of impressive acting
by Donnie Wahlberg (yes, that Donnie
Wahlberg). Look for Donnie as one of Dr.
Crowe's dissatisfied patients with a case
history spookily similar to that of young
Cole.
Given the quality of work here, perhaps
Willis fans can sit through this film
despite the lack of flying bullets and
signature smart-alecky comments.
Instead, Bruce & Co. offer up something
you might not be expecting in your
average Hollywood action picture or
horror flick: acting.