10 Great Movie Performances (That Got Better The Second Time You Watched)

8. Bruce Willis - The Sixth Sense

Bruce Willis might get a lot of flack these days for his career choices, but he remains a gifted, versatile actor whose credits don't always match his ability. It happens. He's been genuinely brilliant over the years, in the likes of Death Becomes Her, Unbreakable and Die Hard, but his most surprising turn came in The Sixth Sense.

As Malcolm Crowe, he is a picture of restraint - a cynic dropped into a ghost story he doesn't believe in while the audience can see how wrong he is. The first time you watch it, he's a mentor gradually building a rapport with young Cole and learning to give him a voice. He's a fairly conventional hero, with emotional turmoil of his own that is barely hinted at and the kind of backstory - of failing a former patient - that makes his link to Cole even more rewarding.

But then on second viewing, after we know he's a ghost, the perception of him completely changes. Knowing that Shyamalan used various tricks to frame ghostly sequences (predominantly the use of red), you're primed to go back and investigate Willis' performance for the same hints. Crucially, it holds up. It's an artful con built both on Shyamalan's writing but also Willis' acting and how convincing it is only improves the latter with subsequent watches.