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The Sixth SenseRoger Crow's reviewUnited States, 1999 Running Length: 1:45 BBFC Classification: 15 (Violent images, adult themes) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg
A strange thing is happening in the movies in the last few months: Lots of leading men are called Crowe. Great name for a leading man I have to say but when you see the heavily delayed John Carpenter's Vampires (Jack Crow) one week and then we see The Sixth Sense with Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) the next, you wonder if things are afoot in Tinseltown. The fact that Russell Crowe is now one of the hottest actors of his generation with The Insider and Gladiator, not to mention The Crow: Salvation hitting the US box office, it makes me wonder. Anyway, back to the movie. Bruce is on good form as a revered child psychologist basking in the glow of an award from the mayor for his efforts with children. On the night that he and his wife, Anna (Olivia Williams), are enjoying his triumph, they arrive home and find an intruder in their bathroom. He is Vincent Gray (an unrecognisable, and terrifying Donnie Wahlberg), one of Crowe's few failures. After rambling about Crowe's faults as a psychiatrist and asking: "Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone?", he produces a gun, then shoots the doctor in the stomach and then blows his brains out. Fade to black; "Next Fall." Philadelphia is awash with Autumnal colours and washed out photography. Crowe has recovered from his wounds physically but not emotionally. He's estranged from his wife; the former lovebirds hardly speak to one another and he suspects that she's found someone else. In an attempt to ease his guilt, Crowe starts working with nine-year old Cole Sear (a superb performance by Haley Joel Osment), a boy who shows similar problems to those displayed by Vincent Gray at that age. Needless to say, Crowe is determined to accomplish for Cole what he could not do for his late patient. But the job he has set for himself is not easy . Our diminutive hero sees and hears things that others cannot, and he is afraid to tell his mother, Lynn (Muriel's Wedding's Toni Collette), fearing that she will think label him a freak. And so it goes. The stall is set out and the shocks arrive here and there with chilling efficiency. The bond between Dr and young patient grows; we eventually get to see what Cole sees and rarely do you look at your watch wondering how long this has left to run. There are a few problems with the movie. Cole sees a collection of hanged dead people and they look like something from a macabre pantomime - just showing the swinging feet would have been more than efficient. It also has an apple pie finale that tends to undo all the chills that came before it; clearly tagged on to maximise the box office returns. And it seems to have worked. Made for $55million, it grossed over $260million in the States alone and cemented Willis' status as one of the world's biggest box office draws. One of the reasons for the huge amount of cashback is millions of viewers have been going back to see the film with the benefit of hindsight - the final twist makes you view the whole movie in a different light. Absorbing, thrilling and everything you would hope for from a big Hollywood thriller. A pity about the over sentimentality but why carp? If you like this, try the much cheaper but equally efficient Kevin Bacon thriller, A Stir of Echoes, the review for which can be found at the bottom of the page.
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