hollywood can make intelligent films
 Jan 25th, 2001
Advantages:
acting, twist
Disadvantages:
none
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
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Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
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  jtimothy
About me:
I am a student at Huddersfield University, studying computing but wishing I had chosen something eas...
Member since:25.01.2001
Reviews:10
Members who trust:1
Review rated by 14 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
If you haven't already seen the film go away now.....
Right we've got rid of them, so when did you guess the plot twist? Was it the meal with his wife, the scene in the hospital or not until the very end? Or were you like me and guessed it when he got shot at the beginning after every review you had read said there was a big twist and in the trailer the kid keeps saying he sees dead people. It is to the credit of the film that this doesn't effect the enjoyment of the film. It’s a secret
The main problem for films 'with a twist' is that it’s hard to keep the twist a secret, especially with the Internet where it is easy to find storylines of films within hours of its release. This didn't happen with the sixth sense, meaning the takings actually increased after the first weekend of release.
This brings you to the other main problem for films with a twist in that the film loses some of its impact after the first viewing, for example
is Seven as effective a movie once you've seen the end, is the Usual suspects quite as clever once you know who Kyser Sosa is?
The sixth sense isn't that badly effected by this because although the film was billed as a twist film there is much more going on, with it almost becoming a family drama as a single mum tries to bring up an increasingly bizarre child.
The kid can act
No matter how good a story and script are, the performances of the actors have to be good enough to make it believable. This normally means problems when one of the main characters is a child (never act with children or animals!!) but in this case Haley Joel Osmont gives the best performance of any of the main characters. He is simply stunning, bringing wonderful emotion to the part that makes you really believe he is seeing dead people. The rest of the cast all give good performances around the kid meaning that by the end of the film you really do care what happens to the characters. The DVD
One of the main attractions of the disc was the deleted scenes included, one of which was an extended ending. This scene actually turns out to be the least interesting of the added scenes as it only spends more time explaining the end for any of the Americans that hadn't figured out what had happened. The other deleted scenes add extra to the characters but as the director says before the scenes, they would have been too much too soon in the film. There is also you're bog standard cast interviews and some quite interesting featurettes showing storyboarding and an insight into the marketing of the film. The best extra however is probably the clues and rules section which shows how certain rules are followed throughout the film, things in red for example. However they don't explain how the Dr can be on a bus before the girl's funeral, surly he would have tried to pay for a ticket but the driver would have ignored him!!! There is also a short clip of a film done by the director as a youngster, whilst this is interesting it doesn't really add much to the film.
The only extra missing is a director/cast commentary, which after listening to some of them might not be much of a loss, however I think it would have been interesting in this case.
The picture quality is as good as you would expect from a new release but the sound is particularly haunting and effective throughout.
Adverts
One of the talked about before the release on disc of this film was that it had adverts inserted into the usual FBI warning so that they had to be watched before the film started. However once the disc was released things became more confused as certain players allowed you to skip through the adverts while others wouldn't let you.
Whilst this is something not to be approved of I certainly wouldn't go to the extent of some people calling for the disc to be boycotted as surely we had forced adverts on videos for years and not just trailer but normal adverts. It seems that the fuss kicked up about the trailers has had some effect anyway as it seems that the trailers are not forced on the R2 release of the film. Overall
One of the best films of last year and at least proves that Hollywood can make some films that don't involve blowing a lot of stuff/aliens/planets up. Would get full marks but for the lack of commentary track and the bus ticket thing!!
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26.01.2001 16:48
A really well done review. Breezes into the "very helpful" category without any trouble. Definitely one to watch.
26.01.2001 10:03
Another superb DVD op, good critical commentry on the extras and a nice break down of the film, Glad you included a spoiler notice :)
25.01.2001 16:09
oh oh.. another newcomer with a brilliant touch! this is a great opinion on one of the most intriguing film ever. i was just going to write something about this dvd, but seeing u already did this, i might just change my mind. this opinion have said it all basically! keep it up! welcome to ciao!