Okay. I saw The Others yesterday. It was a film that people I liked and respected have been telling me to see for quite a while, and I finally got around to it. Now, the first thing I should address is the "Big Twist" at the end, wasn't that much of a surprise. It doesn't help that the stupid cover box announces that the film has a twist, so I was watching and postulating thirty possible endings within the first ten minutes. It seems to me that "Big Twist" movies are rapidly becoming a genre - Sixth Sense, Unbreakable etc. Like those films, if you're watching carefully, you'll figure it out. Unlike those films - and I'm sure I'll take heat for this - it doesn't matter because the film is so well made.
Unlike the Sixth Sense, which frankly I didn't care for, The Others gives no sense of let down once the plot twist is revealed. It's a neat little piece of plotting, but it doesn't undermine the 1 1/2 hours the viewer has invested in the film and the characters. In SS, when we learn Bruce Willis is a ghost (though if you were fooled, you weren't watching) it's almost like "Why why do I care about this guy now? So what if his wife's cheating? on him" Sixth Sense also ends on a relative upbeat - Willis going to the other side. In the Others there's no sense of going anywhere - despite the fervent spiritual beliefs of some characters, there doesn't seem to be an "other" side. I thought this aspect of the film was brillant. No cliches, no pat answers, no white light, just uncertainty.