“I see dead people.” – Cole Sear
This film has one of the worst kept secrets ever: It’s twist ending. Everyone knows it. I won’t repeat it on here mainly to save the one soul who literally knows NOTHING. It is for the fact that this plot twist is so widely known that I’ve never tried watching the movie. Well, I actually did once and two seconds in I said forget it. I feel that once you know the movie won’t be as exciting when you reach the climax, but I guess we’ll see how that plays out with this one.
Basic Premise of the Film: John McClane is a child psychologist. Movie covers his sessions with 9-year-old Cole who has a dark secret. Suspense/horror ensues.
Other than the big twist, I knew absolutely nothing about the film. I was surprised at how amazing it turned out to be. Knowing the big twist didn’t take away anything from the movie. Yes, I noticed some of the clues that foreshadowed the plot twist, but that didn’t matter one bit. The pacing and the overall story is some of the best I’ve ever seen for a film classified as a “suspense” or “horror” film. Before this one, I had seen a couple of M. Night Shyamalan‘s films. These films included “Signs,” “Unbreakable,” and last year’s “The Visit.” The first two films I used to base what I should expect from The Sixth Sense — you know, decent movie with a dumb ending. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m sure that’s been well established by now. From what I’ve read and have seen, this movie is peak M. Night Shyamalan. All of his horror specialties come together most successfully in this film. Haley Joel Osment definitely deserved his Best Supporting Oscar nomination that year. The way he conveyed Cole’s fear and as well being able to keep the movie’s secret without giving it away was definitely worthy. Bruce Willis was amazing as well (I just realized that this is the second Bruce Willis film on this list). I read about how Willis changed the way he does things normally (i.e., writing with his right hand instead of his left) in order to help keep the big secret. All the nominations it received, it deserved.
When the “100 Greatest Films” list first debuted, this movie had yet to be released so it just missed it by a year. It should have come as no surprise that when the list was updated it was placed at #89. I think there has yet to be a film with a similar story line or in the same genre to be better than this one. I’m fully expecting it to be ranked higher at the next update because of how great it is. But, please, let me know, what did you think of this movie when you first saw it?
I saw this film on a hosted site. CLICK HERE to watch. As always, available for rent on YouTube starting at $2.99.
I couldn’t think of a “for funsies” for this one that didn’t involve giving away the main plot element of the film. Just now, shiet’s crazy good.
secret life of an almost "Grown-Up" 