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Poster (c) MGM
Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects is one of the few famous movies now that still has an aura of mystery around its ending. Meaning, of course, that I’ve stumbled upon it, so there was no real surprise for me about it, but I’ll get to that later. The Usual Suspects won two Oscars: best supporting actor (Kevin Spacey), and best original screenplay (Christopher McQuarrie). Both were won deservedly, but it should have also won Most Confusing Screenplay and Most Stuff Happening On Screen At One Time So It Is Hard To Tell What Is Happening.
Five criminals, McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), Hockney (Kevin Pollak), and Verbal Kint (Spacey), are all in a line-up, when there is usually one suspect. They suspect something, and aim to get revenge, but someone higher up is controlling them. If you understand this plot fully, please tell me.
Since I knew the ending, there was no mystery, but I still found The Usual Suspects to be engaging and never boring. I knew the ending, who Keyser Soze was, but not how he was involved, so that added another interesting aspect to it. The acting and chemistry made the not-quite-believable scenario that they’re in. Spacey, who was really more in a main role than supporting, wasn’t as good as his other Oscar-winning role in American Beauty, but he was quite good. Everyone else was very good also, and had amazing chemistry with each other (think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid chemistry).
If you’ve read about the ending, you can still appreciate how it is unraveled (only paralled to The Sixth Sense on how it’s revealed), as I sure did. Overall, The Usual Suspects is an entertaining, if suspense-less movie that I think everyone in their life will see at least once.
Rated R for strong language.
Review Date: August 18, 2003