bruce willis stars as malcolm , an award winning child psychologist who discovers one night that one of his former patients is still suffering from inner demons . the now grown man breaks into his apartment while he and his wife ( olivia williams from rushmore ) are celebrating his award , shoots malcolm in the stomach , then takes his own life . almost nine months later , malcolm discovers cole ( haley joel osment , in a brilliant performance ) , another young man afflicted with the same turmoil as his former patient . he takes on the child's case in the hope of redeeming himself for botching up the previous one , alienating his wife in the process . he soon discovers that they boy can see and speak to the dead , and his life becomes forever turned upside down . although the first hour is very slow , the sixth sense turns out to be a very powerful and moving film . i was expecting this film to be mercury rising 2 , but was astonished to discover an extremely well plotted out little thriller with an outstandingly satisfying ending . you'll find yourself mentally retracing your steps through the film to see if you actually saw what you think you did once the credits roll . i must give m . night shyamalan a lot of credit for a brilliantly written screenplay . the cast should also be given a lot of credit for making the movie as solid as it is . a lesser cast could have made this film a joke . bruce willis portrays his character perfectly , balancing his need to help cole and his agony over his strained relationship with his wife skillfully . haley joel osment shines as nine year old cole , showing patience in his character that few young actors these days can pull off . toni collette , looking markedly different from her pathetic character in muriel's wedding , gives a strong performance as cole's mother , who is trying to cope with both her son's " illness " and the passing of her mother . finally , olivia williams deftly portrays a woman having to struggle with a husband who's not around and flirtations with a co-worker that could lead to a begrudgingly accepted end . it's a shame that they show cole's abilities in the trailer , because the movie takes close to forty minutes to get around to doing the same , so we already know what's going on before most of the rest of the cast does . in retrospect though , the forty minute set-up is essential to enjoying the end of the film , so i have fewer complaints now then i did while i was watching the film . i'm glad that the run of teen-styled horror films has passed and filmmakers are starting to make more adult fare . films like this , the similarly themed stir of echoes , and countless others to be released later in the year should make for a pretty entertaining close to 1999 . [pg-13]
