This was hyped big-time when it came out and, if memory serves me, was a good conversation piece among those who saw it at the theater.

I didn't see it for a few years afterward, on tape and now on DVD. It was very good but I didn't find it as "the greatest movie ever" as some did. It is an involving story, however, and I've come to appreciate it more with multiple viewings. I've seen it three times, the last one looking for mistakes to disprove the surprise ending....but couldn't find any. The filmmakers covered their tracks. However, a couple of scenes were misleading. Those who have seen this movie know what I'm talking about. For those who haven't, I'm not going to spoil it here.

I enjoyed both Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment as the two leads. Willis has had many action-packed, profane macho roles in his career but I like him best when he's low key, as he is in here (and in "Unbreakable," to name another fairly-recent movie) The story is slow-paced but it sure is not boring. In a way, it's nice to see a slower-paced film be a big hit, as this was.

Osment, meanwhile, is a terrific child actor, as he has proved in other films. He's simply one of the best of his young generation. He and Dakota Fanning are the two best child actors I've seen in many years.

This isn't just some supernatural-horror movie. It's a nice human interest story. There is one scene late in the movie in which Osment's mom is having a talk with her young boy in the car. It is an extremely touching scene that brings tears - a great moment in the film.

There are over 2000 IMDb reviews for "The Sixth Sense" so I don't think I can add anything that hasn't already been said. But in case someone has already spoiled the ending for you (like some dumbbutt did for me and the entire office back in 1999, causing me to avoid this movie for 15 years),never fear... it's still VERY MUCH worth watching.

The cool twist is, of course, the main punch of this film. But it's the kind of film you have to watch twice. Once for the story and once for the poetry. So to all my fellow film lovers who happen to have friends & coworkers with big mouths, this film is still a real treat on a poetic & artistic level.

M. Night Shyamalan is one of the few directors who deserves the hype and popularity he gets, at least for this film (I haven't seen any of his others but soon will). Everything is meticulously planned, every camera movement, every shadow, every color and every editing cut, almost to the point of obsessive mania. In the DVD extras he and his crew explain why they did everything the way they did; for example they do a lot of long takes because their philosophy was that rapid cuts tend to disrupt the viewer's thought process. So instead of showing a dialogue between two people in a volley of closeup cuts, the scene is done with 1 camera filming them from the side, slowly, almost hypnotically moving between both of them as it gets closer over the course of perhaps 2 minutes.

I could go on for ages about such scenes, but you probably get the point. If you enjoy the classic directors known for their careful & deliberate approach to filmmaking, directors like Orson Welles ("Citizen Kane"),Otto Preminger ("The Man with the Golden Arm"),Kurosawa ("Seven Samurai") or even the younger crop of great directors like Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") and Alfonso Cuarón ("Children of Men"),you definitely have to check out this movie and other works of Shyamalan.

I am making 100% sure I don't in any way reveal the surprise twist in this film--too many have and I think those people are evil. So, if you know THE twist, you'll probably not enjoy the film nearly as much when you first see it. But, if you haven't, it's a heck of an enjoyable film.

Haley Joel Osment delivers a truly amazing performance considering his age. He is THE reason the film works as well as it does and I wish the Oscar folks had given him some sort of special award to honor his great work. And, in addition, I can't believe I am saying this, but Bruce Willis and the director, M. Night Shyamalan, were at the top of their game as well. The other huge star here is the writing--and it was superb because it was so original, creative and the story bears many repeated viewings as each one reveals yet another layer of complexity.

By the way, while nominated for six Oscars, the movie somehow won none. Instead, the darkly cynical "American Beauty" carried off five of the trophies--though I really didn't think this winner was nearly as good a movie. Good, yes...but not great like "The Sixth Sense"....provided some moron didn't tell you THE secret.