The Usual Suspects

Great movie with superb performance from Kevin Spacey, well accompanied with the rest of the cast.

Keaton always said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him." Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze. The Usual Suspects is directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. It stars Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Kevin Pollack, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Giancarlo Esposito and Dan Hedaya. Music is by John Ottman and cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel. Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint (Spacey) attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. It sort of sidled into movie theatres in 1995 with no fanfare or heralded notices. Yet it wasn't long before word of mouth got around that The Usual Suspects might actually be the must see film of the year. Fledgeling director and writer - Singer and McQuarrie - produce a masterclass of crime/mystery/noir plotting in a whirl of intricate plot shifts and deft sleights of hand. The core essence of the story is simpl

A clever twist and heavy fan support are the only stand-out aspects of this average heist film. Bloggers, reviews, and friends hyped The Usual Suspects for years before I finally watched it, and it was ok. The movie had a pretty clever plot twist that the entire film was building towards from the beginning. Unfortunately, without the twist, the film is pretty mediocre. Brute force characterized the heists over clever planning. Keyser Söze's brilliant manipulation of the characters around him seems less mastermind and more taking advantage of criminals that aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Many people would disagree with me, but The Usual Suspects rates average at best for me.