Dom Robinson reviews
The Sixth Sense
Distributed by
Warner Bros.
- Cert:
- Cat.no: D 034646
- Running time: 103 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 19 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, Italian
- Subtitles: English, Italian, French
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Storyboard to film comparison, The Cast, Music
and Sound Design, Reaching the Audience, Rules and Clues, Deleted Scenes,
A Conversation with M. Night Shyamalan, Publicity, Filmmaker/Cast Biogs
Producers:
Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Barry Mendel
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
Malcolm Crowe: Bruce Willis (Armageddon, Billy Bathgate, Blind Date, Bonfire of the Vanities, Color Of Night, Death Becomes Her, Die Hard 1-3, The Fifth Element, Hudson Hawk, In Country, The Jackal, Last Boy Scout,
Last Man Standing, Look Who's Talking 1 & 2, Mercury Rising, Pulp Fiction, The Siege, The Sixth Sense, Striking Distance, Sunset, Twelve Monkeys)
Cole Sear: Haley Joel Osment (Bogus, The Sixth Sense)
Lynn Sear: Toni Collette (The Boys, Clockwatchers, Emma, Muriel's Wedding, The Pallbearer, The Sixth Sense, Velvet Goldmine)
Anna Crowe: Olivia Williams (The Postman, Rushmore, The Sixth Sense)
The Sixth Sense
is an eerie thriller about child psychologist Malcolm Crowe, (Bruce Willis), who tries to help a
young boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment) who has been diagnosed as suffering from
"possible mood disorder" since the break-up of his parents' marriage. When Crowe first meets
Cole, the boy utters a Latin phrase which gives Crowe something to think about when he
has it translated.
I don't want to say too much about the plot because it's there for you to discover, but
suffice to say that everything good you've heard about this film is true. Bruce Willis
adds another string to his bow as a first-rate actor and newcomer Haley Joel Osment is
certainly set to become a big star following this film and is in the running as the lead
role in the Harry Potter movie when they get round to making it.
I'm just not a fan of Toni Collette - as Cole's mother - and wish she'd been replaced,
but as least she doesn't spend her time getting on your nerves like she did in
Muriel's Wedding.
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 cinematic ratio and is anamorphic. With no
artifacts, the image is crystal clear and has realistic flesh-tones. The average bitrate
is 6.34Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 8Mb/s.
When it comes to the sound, it's not about what you can hear in the main, but what you
can just about hear. The film is full of genuinely-spooky moments, all reproduced
faithfully in Dolby Digital 5.1.
Extras :
Chapters :
19 chapters to the film which isn't too bad for its relatively-short length, but I never
say no to more.
Languages and Subtitles :
English and Italian in Dolby Digital 5.1 for dialogue. Subtitles are available in the same
languages plus French, the English variant being for the hard of hearing too.
And there's more... :
The extras largely consist of 36 minutes of short featurettes starting with
Storyboard to film comparison, introduced by the director and focusing mainly on one
scene; The Cast featuring chat from the main cast and crew members and why some of
them were chosen; Music and Sound Design notes how background music was used to
increase tension, Reaching the Audience concentrates on the filmmakers retelling
public feedback; Rules and Clues shows how the film was made so certain elements
ring true on subsequent viewings and A Conversation with M. Night Shyamalan sees
the director explaining why he puts certain things into his films.
There are 4 Deleted Scenes including an extended ending, a Publicity section
that contains the trailer and two TV spots and finally the extensive Filmmaker/Cast Biogs,
even though they didn't seem to work on my DVD-ROM player.
Menu :
Static and silent with a shot of a light bulb and the standard options.
Overall, this is a very well-written and well-crafted film. It also has a memorable beginning,
but, like the majority of the plot, it contains a surprise that you should only know of when
you're watching it. Sadly, I knew of the film's ending before I watched this DVD, partly thanks
to a newsgroup article that didn't have Spoiler noted (bugger!) and then I had it
confirmed by an idiot on the otherwise-excellent Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned show
on ITV.
I can see why The Daily Telegraph called it a 'must-see twice' film, but since I
already knew the ending, I tried to look upon each scene from both perspectives. While the
disc has many extras, is it a film you can watch over and over again? Probably not and for
that the film loses a point.
FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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OVERALL
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
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DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
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