This provides one of the most incredible payoffs in cinema...

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2015)

An incredible twist is enough to propel any film into greatness, even if it's not an incredible movie. People can have their opinions of a film completely changed just because of a cunning twist at the end, even if the rest of it is unremarkable. It is therefore crucial when reviewing a film of this nature that all of the movie is taken into account, not just the ending. Thankfully, "The Usual Suspects" is completely worth the journey to the end, earning its runtime with funny and thrilling cinema, and providing one of the most incredible payoffs at the end. For those who haven't seen the film, I will attempt to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but I can't promise anything.
The film is told mostly via flashback by Kevin Spacey's character, the odd "Verbal" Kint, about a group of criminals who are brought together by the mysterious crime boss Keyser Soze. They get into deeper and deeper trouble throughout the film, only meeting Soze's strange associate, "Mr Kobayashi", played masterfully and mysteriously by the late Pete Postlethwaite. The ensemble, made up of Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne and Benicio del Toro, among others, has incredible chemistry, and you believe every one of the fights and fall-outs that they have. The whole point is that they're being forced to work together, it's not their choice.
The film is an excellent example of neo-noir styling, especially in its cinematography and score, and the climax on the ship at the end is pulled off extremely well. It's a truly heart- pounding sequence, helped by the fact that you're manically trying to unpick the mystery at the same time. What makes it such a success is the fact that nearly all of the preceding hour and a half is interesting and engaging. The characters are well thought out, not just one-sided, and the performances on display really complement each other well.
*SPOILERS FROM HERE*
Is it perfect? Almost. It's inevitable that putting so much reliance on a twist can scupper parts of the film's success, and despite taking you completely by surprise, it does in many ways completely invalidate everything seen before. Obviously the true test of this is whether it stands up a second time, once you know the twist, but I have yet to experience this. An unreliable narrator is okay so long as you can piece together some form of truth afterwards, and I'm really not sure if this is possible.
Despite this, the first watching certainly holds up. You're taking on an incredible ride with the film, constantly trying to guess its secrets, and if anything, it's a brilliant way to experience one of Spacey's two breakout performances.