When the Sixth Sense was released it was to mch critical acclaim. Great pains were taken to not give away the plot line because to do so would be an absolute crime. In the same way, I will endevour not to say too much here, but suffice to say itis quite excellent, if when looked at afterwards very simplistic and not exactly flawless.
Bruce Willis plays a child psychologist who becomes rather obsessed with the case of one young boy who claims to see ghosts. The boy is naturally quite scared by this, as is his mother and Willis tries to help him come to terms with this...is the story on the outside anyway. It sounds very simple, but trust me, this movie is far better than that simple sounding plot can convey.
This is easily one of Bruce Willis’s best performances, offering him a serious, more sympathetic role rather than the action hero/hard man role which he is so used to playing. he carries the part with consumate ease and is highly impressive. The movie also introduces us to another great talent for the future in the form of the haunted child who most recently has made a screen return in the Kubrik/Spielberg movie A.I. This young man is simply superb here and easily steals the show despite Willis’ own superb performance. Expect big things from him in the future.
One thing this movie doesn’t try to do is go overboard on the ghostly goings on. The subject is tackled with maturity and doesn’t try to draw audiences with ludicrous special effects ala Spielberg’s Poltergeist for example. Willis and the little guy(who name escapes me..dang) are the two main characters and the story tends to focus upon these two more than anything else with some great interchanges between the two. It weaves a fascinating tale and will have you glued to your seat from start to finish. Its not going to please Willis’ action movie fans who come to it looking for high octane thrills and spills, but for the rest of us its certainly an enjoyable viewing. 5 stars all the way.