There are four types of people who have seen The Sixth Sense, I find.
Those who didn’t have it spoiled for them (in any way) and was surprised at the ending.
Those who did have it spoiled and already knew the ending before they watched it (or as they were watching it).
Those who didn’t get the ending (spoiled or not) and either had to have it explained to them or “got” it later on.
Those who didn’t have it spoiled but figured it out for themselves over the course of watching the movie.
Which group are you in?
I’m a 2.
I had it spoiled (by my own Mom, no less) before I saw it.
Group 1. I figured out the twist at the end before it was revealed, but only by a couple of minutes or so. It was very surprising to me. I saw the movie fairly early on in its run, and did not even know that there WAS a big twist ending, prior to seeing it.
I’m a 2. You know who spoiled it for me? Nathan Lane. He was a guest on Letterman, and during some weird, manic, stream-of-consciuosness rambling that was supposed to be funny, he blurted out something like “and in the Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis is the dead guy!!!” for no apparent reason. Jerk.
The film was only about a year old, and I had just procured the DVD but had yet to watch it. :mad:
I’m a 1. It made me feel like a bit of rube, too, because in the course of the movie I actually thought to myself: “Gee, the way Bruce Willis is hanging around and watching that kid hit on his wife but not finding the courage to go up and confront them – it’s almost as if he’s acting like a ghost himself!”
Between #1 and #3. When the final revelation happened, other people shouted out what had just happened before I had a chance to process it, so it sort of ruined the fun of figuring it out for me.
But, having known that there was a twist beforehand, even though I didn’t know what it was, I was able to pinpoint when the twist started – when the caption stated “9 months later”, I thought to myself “whatever happened, or didnt happen, in those 9 months is critical to the ‘twist’. As is the fact that they never showed us what happened to Bruce, because normally they don’t just jump around like that in movies without some explanation.” I just never thought about it more until the end of the movie.
#1 here. Note that I don’t feel that not knowing the “twist” is essential to enjoying the film. On at least one occasion I felt the filmmaker didn’t quite play fair-when they’re in the restaurant, and she appears to glare at him. Turns out when I watched the DVD some people were shouting in the background, hence her reaction, but I still think the glare (in retrospect) was a bit of a cheat.
The thing is, it’s not enough to not know the ending. I saw it opening weekend and didn’t know there was a twist to be looking for. Because there was no twist and the movie didn’t really seem to be the kind of movie with a “shocking twist ending”, no one in the theater seemed to know or was looking for it.
I remember the moment when everyone realized he was dead. Great movie viewing moment. The whole theater gasped and talked to one another at the same time.
I’ve never seen another movie do that to a crowd. Too bad M. Night had gotten worse over time.
Group 1. I saw a review in the local paper that said something on the order of ‘pay attention to the ending’, but I did not see it coming - I only understood when Willis’ character bends over his sleeping wife, and her breath clouds
but wish I was a 2. so I didn’t have to watch that piece of crap. Dear filmmakers: if your movie sucks up until the last 2 minutes, it is a failure, no matter how good those 2 minutes are. Would’ve been the greatest short film ever but the concept wasn’t enough to carry 2 hours.
I sort of got spoiled for this film - I wasn’t told what the twist was, but I was told that there was a twist, so I guessed it pretty much straight away.
#1. I also did not know there was a twist-ending. In fact, I only rented the movie because of all the good press/award nominations. Before viewing, my impression was that the movie involved (don’t laugh) Willis battling aliens or something.
After the ending, Mrs. Raza and I immediately re-watched the whole thing.
During the first viewing, I knew there were a few things that were odd, particularly when Willis and the boy’s mother were sitting in her living room awaiting the boy’s return home. And they just sat there, not talking with each other, which I thought really odd.
I also didn’t know about the ending of The Others, and enjoyed it as well.