Weapon X

Well, uh, I finally saw the film.
It was good...BUT...
What's up with the 'twist' of the ending?????
Did anybody NOT see this coming?

Who was 'shocked' by the ending?

I mean..look, Bruce Willis is shot in the beginning.

He, uh, doesn't have lines with anyone in the movie.

His wife won't look at him...and he acts like they are 'seperated'....

Once again, he is the kids Dr..a supposedly well respected shrink..and he doesn't talk with the Physician? The Mom?
Huh?

Then, they do a tight shot where the kid spells out the whole movie..while the camera is on Willis..and we KNOW he has been shot..and the remaining chowderheads STILL don't get it???

Please tell me you all caught this from the fourth minute!

And, don't flame me here..cuz I haven't seen it in a LONG time..but wasn't this kinda done in Jacob's Ladder?

All in all, I DID like the film..but with everyone telling me how shocking the end was...I was just puzzled as to how the American Moviegoing Public's IQ has collectivly gone down. It's normal for at least three or more characters to interact....



[This message has been edited by Weapon X (edited April 06, 2000).]

jaeufraser

I think it's a bit unfair to call people stupid for not figuring out the ending. Sure some clues were there, but I sure as heck didn't figure it out. Somehow I did manage to get into an ivy league school though. I think the thing comes about int the fact that in movies people usually accept what is presented as fact. Especially when what looks like a living breathing human being interacts on screen as a main character. I never saw Jacob's ladder so that doesn't help. I did question why the Willis character never spoke to the other people, but honestly, he seemed to be a real character who's alive. Considering the ability of so many characters in movies to survive gunshot wounds (Bruce Willis in particular) and the fact that seeing someone get shot indicated to most people that bruce Willis would undergo some sort of psychological change due tothat incident(which he did), not die, it is entirely acceptable to think that most people would not see this coming. It's not a matter of not figuring out he's dead, it's a matter of most people seeing someone within common movie conventions as a living character and believing it. i sure as heck did. most films have conversations off screen, have scenes that the viewer does not see. That is in fact a more likely conclusion than that of assuming he's dead right off the bat. Maybe it is soooo obvious to some people, but it isn't to me and myriads of other people. Don't insult intellect based on one movie. Anyways, I'm glad I didn't get it...that made for a far more enjoyable experience. And I'm willing to bet the fact the "twist" was so well publisized that more people figured it out since they were looking for it. I hope my reasoning makes sense and isn't convoluted, but it's 3 in the morning. I need sleep. But regardless, sixth sense, good movie (IMHO).

RoboDad

No flames from me, you miserable vomitous mass... oh, sorry .

I wasn't "shocked" by the ending, but I did enjoy the twist. I had been alerted before seeing the movie that there was an unexpected twist somewhere, but that's all I was told. So, when I saw it, I was looking for something. Still, I was so drawn in by the story that it wasn't until the final play scene that all the pieces fell into place.

Maybe your disappointment comes, in part, from the overload of non-spoiler spoilers you got before seeing it. Maybe it also comes from the fact that you were actively looking for clues to something "shocking" from the first minute, which most of us weren't doing. I think it is a shame that your opinion of the movie has been somewhat tainted, since I would like to have heard your reaction if you had gone into it comepletely unaware of any "shocks" or twists. Maybe the experience would have been different for you.

I've seen the movie four times now, and, in my opinion, it just gets better with each viewing.

Robo

Weapon X

Well, I liked your views. I can see it....
I think my issues are these..and I was going a LITTLE overboard ..sorry to anybody who took me seriously on the stupid line....

I ATTEMPT to write films. I have studied at it...and even if I suck, I have read the greats.

Woody Allen/Kevin Smith Dialogue fests are my bag, so, naturally..I look for the conversations FIRST.

I can honestly say I would have caught this whether or not I knew of any twist.
Or..I would have thought the screenplay was moronic and walked out.

The only thing that suprised me was that it was not neatly tied together that the guy who shot Willis was indeed the kid...kind of forcing him to go back and fix where he left off...
(That might not make any sense.. )


I DID enjoy the film, and like Eyes Wide Shut, I think it is the type of film that really warrants multiple viewings.

I guess I can see how you just know it is a bruce Willis movie, he's a shrink, and they do a really, really tight job keeping you in one box...becoming involved and focused on his character helping the kid..that you might not notice all the problems...it looks like Mom and Bruce were done with a convo..or maybe she resents the Shrink?

Maybe his wife IS that cold..maybe since he was shot, he has devoted himself to his work and she hates him..it happens in real life.

I think the strength of the film is direction and writing...I mean, if the main story of Cole's therapy was not so involving..and had the actors not been so involved, I think attention spans may have strayed.

I figured it right out, and then just got totally BACK into the movie.

I just thought that while the end may have shocked some, that this forum is usually well stocked with film students, writers, etc...that would have caught on....

All in all, the ONLY thing I would have cut were the scenes of the wife and the other guy...at least at the house..that was 'weird'...

Good movie...thinking material...
Nice to see Bruce move on again and NOT do Die Hard Pt 8.

I am looking forward to this director's next effort.

Trula

THANK YOU! you are the FIRST that has said that weapon. I thought I was the only one that knew the ending the whole time. I was like, thats it!? It was too predictable. how could you NOT know? or at least think about it during the whole movie. He didn't interact at all. its only common sense to notice that. not to insult anyones intelligence but I just find it interesting that noone else caught on.

I think I'm just a really bad movie critic. I like GOOD movies. I thought the concept was really good but I wish I got the same effect like everyone else.

Groucho

Kudos to guessing the twist after the films been out 8 months and the ending has been spoiled in just about every form of media.

I would like to say that it's not a fault of the film if you guess the ending -- it's a feature. The film put numerous clues right in front of the viewers face, with the expectation that some in the audience would catch on.

If nothing else, the film is an excellent meditation on how movies manipulate their audience. After over 100 years of movie-making, we have been trained to make certain assumptions as we watch a film. The Sixth Sense exploits these assumptions so that we see something that isn't true, even though the obvious is right in front of our faces. Like Malcolm, we see what we want to see.

BTW, Jacob's Ladder was about a deathbed hallucination. All the events were in the characters head. In The Sixth Sense, the events were all real, but they were misinterpreted by Malcolm, who didn't realize that he was a ghost.

DVDer

I saw The Sixth Sense without knowing about the ending and was not surprised. As I've mentioned on the forum previously, I thought I was being hit over the head with the inevitable ending throughout the film. Interestingly, some of the people at the theater, who I later found out knew about the twist, still gasped when they finally saw it.

--Heather

JM

Well, knowing only three things about the movie--that the kid sees dead people, that Bruce Willis was his doc, and that there was a twist (the first two were given away by the trailers and TV spots)--I actually had a *strong* feeling about what the twist would be even before I saw the movie. After the first few minutes of watching it, I knew I was right. So that I could prove that I had guessed the "secret" early on, I wrote it down on paper and revealed it later. I, too, thought it was *very* obvious but others watching it with me didn't figure it out until the very end (and even then I had to explain what was going on with the flashbacks etc.) I must admit that knowing the secret somewhat diminished the viewing experience for me; however, I still liked the movie.

FWIW, I don't think guessing the secret early necessarily corresponds with high IQ or intelligence. My first viewing was with friends who are considered to be of average intelligence. I was sure that one of my other friends who is of similar high intelligence as me would figure it out as I did. We watched it again. He knew the same three things I did but did not figure it out until the end. I think a lot of it depends on if you watch the movie from the perspective of an average viewer or from that of a would-be film maker. I know I asked myself what twist the director was likely to use that the average person would both miss the first time around and understand when it was revealed. Some people watch movies purely for entertainment and do not even attempt to examine, much less appreciate, the ways a director/editor/etc. attempts to create his/her vision on screen.

BTW, for those of you who did think the ending was obvious, watch the movie a second time if you haven't already. When you aren't mentally making a list of every little clue that backs up your theory, it is a little more enjoyable IMO.

Ironside

They blew it with the commercials...once bruce was shot, I thought he would be one of those dead people that the kid sees. Then the scene with the check was the kicker...it took me a few seconds to get it, but that was the 2nd or 3rd scene.

Weapon X

I'll edit the message...
I was joking about the IQ thing...I was trying to express how I felt about people not paying attention the way they used to...
I mean, I read an article, post, something lately(Read quite a bit, so sometimes I cannot place where..), and this person was a young kid when they saw Citizen Kane, and THEY were stunned and payed attention to the lighting, dialogue,acting...

I think it is unfair to bring up 8 months..I just heard it was a good film, etc...but NOBODY told me the guy was dead...It was not discussed because, really, I HATE Bruce Willis....I have now amended that opinion..I also was one of ,what it seems, the few that LOVED 'Last Man Standing'...but i don't dig action movies.

Like I said, I wasn't "Looking"...the lack of interaction thing, dialogue, really bothered me.

Thanks on the Jacob's Ladder thing...for some reason I thought of that movie(BTW-How is it on DVD?)....

I guess there are those of us who study film, and yeah, we are more critical and pay attention...
And those that really ,like I said, focused on the story of a Dr. and his young patient....which was so good , it was distractng.
Even for me.

Even knowing the secret, the movie was amazingly well done...but, women in tears?
That much shock?

1. Willis is shot
2. No recovery or hospital shots...
3. Nobody talks to him...
4. Was an Award Winning Psychologist..yet no office or communiation with people or other patients..if he survived the gunshot, he'd be a hero, not running around in shame...
5. The wife won't even look directly at him..even in a BAD marriage, a look is used to CONVEY words...
6. Then the kid explains the dead people rap, and we get a tight on Malcolm.
Well, there ya go.
7. Nobody says anything to Willis at a funeral...???
8. Mom never mentions the doctor or says her son is under the care of a prominent psychiatrist...

See?
Like I said, I was watching, and if I DIDN'T expect something...or didn't figure it out..or I turned out to be wrong..I would have blasted this movie for a horrid screenplay.

I think the best that can be said is film affects us all differently..we all seem to really like and enjoy the film, but take the ending different. I view the film as a kind of journey, a symbolic completion in the wake of a violent death.

hanami

When I first went to see the 6th Sense in the movie theater, I had no idea what the movie was all about, I was just watching the movie and following the story, not really paying attention to the small details. The ending is quite unexpeted. So am I dumb for not knowing the twist til the end?

In Jacob Ladder, the movie is presented as if the character whom Tim Robbins is playing has survived the Vietnam War and comes back home to live a normal life. Of course, his life is never going to be the same and gradually he uncovers what the army did to him and many others during the Vietnam War. And the twist is $%^#@$^%$&%. Although the twist is good, the movie is not nearly as good as the 6th Sense.

JohnDill17

I just thought I would add that the ending was a total surprise to me. I am not stupid. I would actually consider myself a somewhat intelligent person. I guess I was just so involved in the story (and didn't know going in that there would be a surprise ending) that I wasn't looking for the clues that they placed throughout the movie. The feeling I got of total shock upon finding out that Willis' character is dead was so cool. I wish I could feel that feeling again some time.

------------------
"You must unlearn what you have learned."

Struz

Weapon X, I'm with you. I saw it last night on DVD for the first time. I knew nothing of the movie except that it was a great movie.

SPOILERS:








I figured out Bruce was dead pretty quick.
He never interacted with anyone but the boy.
He never drove a car, instead he rides a bus with the boy to the funeral.

I thought it was a good, not great movie. I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of 4. I did think it was pretty scary though.

Struz