I soliti sospetti

"The Usual Suspects" is a complicated puzzle of a movie that I bet you can't watch just once. The film deals with five career crooks who have big plans after they are all brought together in a police lineup. However, their mayhem is interrupted by a mysterious character named Kaiser Sose who plans to eliminate all five of the crooks after they all crossed him in various ways during their checkered pasts. An amazing original screenplay and tight direction keep up a substantial amount of tension throughout. Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite, and Chazz Palminteri all give top-notch performances. But it is Kevin Spacey (in an Oscar-winning part) that makes "The Usual Suspects" work on all levels. This part put him in a higher class of actors and can be compared to Robert DeNiro's star-making job in "The Godfather, Part II". 5 stars out of 5.

When you think of 90's thrillers, you will probably think of Heat, Pulp Fiction, Silence of The Lambs and many more, and whilst Goodfellas is perhaps my favourite of them, but close behind is The Usual Suspects.

It's a wonderful, clever thriller, it's full of twists and turns, with surprises galore, it's a film that makes you think. Just when you think you know all, they pull the rug from under you, and make you think again. Direction is taut, the script is impressive.

I would argue this is one of Spacey's best ever performances, if not the best of the lot, he is phenomenal here, and really does stand out in a crowd of immense talent, hopefully he'll get his career back on track.

Gabriel Byrne and Pete Postlethwaite shine, as does Stephen Baldwin, a time where that handsome brotherhood seemed to pop up everywhere, but he was excellent also.

It's a super slick production, with some pretty fine special effects, and good use of pyrotechnics, a polished production, one that's not overdone.

This is one of those movies that you can watch and watch again, it simply doesn't diminish or lose any of its intrigue. You know there's a twist coming, you'll sit there waiting for it, and the first time round your jaw may drop, it's a very well delivered moment. The ending of this film is fabulous.

10/10.

One day in a bookshop, I flipped through a book entitled: "the movies of the nineties" and this movie wasn't included! How can a book specialized in cinema skip such a milestone of the last decade? Any movie buff, any cinema critic must have considered the nineties a fruitful era for the American thriller. According to one's tastes, some will say that the best thriller of the nineties is "Silence of the Lambs" (1991). For others it will be "Pulp Fiction" (1994) while others will praise to the skies "Se7en" (1995). For me, the pinnacle is this present movie, "the Usual Suspects" (1995) with its staggering story (to put it mildly). It's a sensational debut for Bryan Singer which enabled to put him on the map. With a little help from his accomplice Christopher McQuarrie, he signed an unparalleled gem in the landscape of the American thriller, even the whole cinema.

The average viewer who watches "the Usual Suspects" for the first time might think that the whole crew concocted him a meandering story with as a leading thread, Spacey's convoluted story. At the end of the projection, he may feel puzzled and will probably wish to watch the movie a second time. He won't regret it and Singer and McQuarrie will rejoice at it. Their masterwork gains by several repeated viewings to appreciate the subtleties of a rich movie with a convoluted construction which will take its seemingly definitive form in the five last minutes. To watch "the Usual Suspects" is like gathering the pieces of an intriguing puzzle, a little like any other suspenseful movie but in the case of Singer's flick, one will never really be able to completely end it. So many things happen in less than two hours that we are never really sure of what we watch and this is reinforced by a breathtaking unexpected twist at the end which makes our assumptions falter. Singer and McQuarrie take a mischievous delight in taking the viewer in their nebulous scenario and to follow it according to Spacey's declarations and it's obvious that they raise more questions than answers. It's up to the viewer to make his imagination work and to bring his thoughts on the film. This is what inspires its pernicious charm.

From Spacey's story, the authors developed a top quality script, set with clockwork precision. Singer's directorial style virtually evolutes on the razor's edge and conveys an increasing tension. It is filled with ingenious visual ideas and served by fluid camera movements. Singer was in his early thirties when he shot his film but it presents the signs of a seasoned author. There's also a tight editing and a unsettling score which cement the movie in its place of winner. More remarkable, the authors pull off with gusto to increase the audience's curiosity throughout the film in spite of a somewhat deliberate confusion and the interest won't weaken until the end which constitute the apex: an unexpected twist which will leave the audience speechless once they understood it. In Singer's flick, it doesn't disappoint because there are little but noticeable visual and verbal clues which justify it. However, it has something unsettling. We believe that we are at the end of the maze but there's more to the picture than meets the eye. Maybe this "coup de theatre" veils one more truth. Maybe also the shrewdest ones will have guessed it but the result is the same for any viewer: Singer puts a baffled spectator in his pocket.

Singer and Quarrie show a perfect master in the domain of the film noir: an ominous atmosphere, nocturnal scenes which stay rooted in the mind and a deep psychology of certain characters which give more substance to the film. Considering the last point, the character of Gabriel Byrne is the most interesting one: a former crooked cop who seemingly redeemed himself in catering but caught up by his past and forced to come back to work. I personally think that Byrne is the stand-out of the topflight cast the movie boasts. But don't neglect the other members. Kevin Spacey pocketed a deservedly Oscar in 1996 and the rest of the cast doesn't stay on the bench. Maybe Singer grants a little shallow attention to the three others baddies in the gang but in a way it's necessary to underscore the fact that they're lousy gangsters embroiled in a infernal spiral and unable to perceive what lies beneath all this. Pete Postlewhaite and Chazz Palminteri make their scenes count too.

A riveting storytelling, a painstaking flash-back, a tight and first-class directing, a thoughtful twist, a topnotch cast, "the Usual Suspects" includes almost everything a director would sell his soul for. Everything contributes to make it a stalwart model in the suspenseful movie and the whole cinema. After the first vision, be prepared for mental gymnastics and for a second screening...

.... to calm me down after watching this thriller. It's absolutely perfect, an edge of the seat experience. I usually don't hand out perfect grades, but from beginning to end it takes you on a wild ride. And you will want to see it again to see if there are any "tells" you missed the first time. Somewhat like the fantastic "Prestige" of ten years later, except that was in the realm of magic and this is a thriller/heist film.

Five guys who have absolutely nothing in common but a criminal background meet during a line-up over a hijacked truck full of gun parts and then team up in two different heists and then a third job on a boat. The first two heists they do willingly, the last job they are compelled to do. What do I mean by compelled ?- Watch and find out.

The first five minutes are confusing - You see two characters on a boat, one in full view, one whispering and seen only in shadowy profile. One shoots the other with the victim's seeming complete consent. The shadowy profile then sets the boat ablaze, escapes, and then the boat explodes. The film then starts out answering the question of what exactly it is you've just seen, and for that matter, what it is you haven't just seen.

I wish I could say more, but I really can't without spoiling it, at least to a degree. With a brooding score full of regret, a first class ensemble cast, and the point being the power of story, I wouldn't suggest you watch this close to bedtime if you intend to sleep.

Such films like this should be enshrined in museums, simply due to the fact it destroyed the entire genre of mystery films. While this film was unique and captivating, no other mystery will ever accomplish this sort of cult status, single handedly shaping a genre. While most mysteries try to shock you too often with twists and even more twists, it turns out to be overkill. This film encompassed such ideas with flair and originality, which is probably the reason Brian Singer is sticking to sci-fi action films. Only Memento and The Game are the only recent mystery movies worthy enough to stand beside this film. Sadly, Singer has somewhat sold out by doing the X-Men movies, but I guess trying to make films like this would be too taxing. This film will always bring a smile to my face when I watch it with someone who hasn't seen this movie. A good viewing every time I watch it, the new special edition DVD is awesome.