34 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
34 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
when i saw the trailer for " the sixth sense , " i didn't expect much from it .
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my snap judgment was that it was a watered-down version of " the shining " or possibly a late-entry in the glut of angel-related movies/tv shows of a couple years ago .
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but all the buzz motivated me to give it a shot .
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it turned out to be one of the most satisfying movie experiences of the year .
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bruce willis plays child psychologist malcolm crowe .
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at the beginning of the movie , he is admiring an award the city has given him for his work , but he is soon confronted by vincent , a patient malcolm failed years earlier ( donnie wahlberg-former new kid-in an impressive cameo ) .
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a year passes , and malcolm is treating another child with the same symptoms vincent displayed .
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cole sear ( haley joel osment ) is a withdrawn kid who is called " freak " by the other boys in the neighborhood .
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weird things seem to happen around cole-his mother ( olivia williams ) leaves the kitchen for a moment and returns to find every cabinet and drawer open even though cole hasn't moved-and cole seems to know things that a kid his age shouldn't-for example , that there was once a gallows in his school .
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he steals religious icons from churches to build a chapel in a pup tent in his bedroom .
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the trailer gave away the movie's first major plot twist .
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if it hadn't , the first hour of the movie would be more engrossing because we wouldn't know what's wrong with cole .
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if you're lucky enough to have not seen the trailer , stop reading this review right now and go see " the sixth sense . "
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anyway , since the trailer gave it away , i figure it's fair game to discuss here .
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once malcolm gains cole's trust , cole reveals his secret : he sees ghosts everywhere .
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dead people wander around not knowing that they're dead , invisible to everyone except cole .
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malcolm gradually begins to realize that cole is telling the truth .
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the box office success of " the sixth sense " has generated a lot of press about how horror movies rule the box office this year and lots of theories about why that's so .
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i hate to burst anybody's bubble , but " the sixth sense " isn't really a horror film .
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at its core , " the sixth sense " is a touching story of how a troubled kid and an emotionally-scarred adult help each other to move past their problems .
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some scenes with the ghosts are wonderfully creepy , though .
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one that really got to me : the ghost of a boy says to cole , " i'll show you where my dad keeps his gun " ; when the ghost turns , we see the bullet wound in the back of his head .
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osment gives the best performance i've ever seen from a child actor .
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it's hard enough to find a grown-up in hollywood who can give a subtle , realistic portrayal !
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although willis gets top billing , cole is really the protagonist of the story , and osment truly brings the complex kid to life .
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if only willis' work were as impressive .
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accustomed to delivering catchphrases rather than dialogue , willis is stiff and awkward as malcolm , his most challenging role to date .
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( this is a bad omen for his next movie , " the story of us , " which chronicles the ups and downs of a marriage ) .
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writer/director m . night shyamalan has a light , poetic touch that goes to the heart of the viewer without seeming sappy or trite .
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he's also a skillful storyteller , as the movie's ending demonstrates .
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only when the final secret is revealed do you realize that shyamalan has been hinting at it throughout the movie .
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look for a cameo by the director as a doctor who treats cole .
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bottom line : osment should get an oscar nomination , and you should go see this movie .
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