It's true what they say- you'll have to see this film at least twice to completely understand it

Rating: 10/10 (23 June 2005)

STAR RATING: ***** Unmissable **** Very Good *** Okay ** You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead * Avoid At All Costs
A group of known criminals are rounded up for a police line up in a rather unusual fashion. As their lawyers wait to post bail, they agree to pull off another job together. Told in flashback, Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) a crippled, informed member of the group recounts to a hard-pressing customs officer (Chazz Palmenteri) how the others were killed and the possible involvement of the mysterious, mythical 'Keyser Soze.'
I decided I'd been a film connoisseur far too long to have not seen or reviewed this extremely critically acclaimed work. And last night (after a failed recording on Sky Movies a few weeks back!) my dream finally came true. Back when it originally came out, I guess you could say I had a sort of different slant on what made a film appeal to me, but now I am far more eager to seek out and review far more acclaimed work such as this.
Shot in just, I think it was 30 days?!?, like Reservoir Dogs, this was a low budget production with a shining concept behind it to ultimately make it stand out more than any of the summer blockbusters that had been released shortly before it. It's a fairly simple story (not really high-concept in any way) that could have had a really simple delivery, but the film cleverly twists and turns it into another one of those ones where you have to pay attention to everything that is being said and inferred. It's probably one of the most impressive efforts of such a film I've seen, in as much as I only saw it last night and, yep, like other critics before me said I would, I still think I need a repeat viewing just to have another go at trying to make sense of it all.
Like RD, this film head-billed a group of debut/small-time actors and sent their respective fortunes spiralling either way. Benicio Del Toro went from strength to strength, whilst Spacey would go on to achieve Hollywood gold status. On the other hand, Gabriel Byrne still only enjoyed co-starring appearances in various films, whilst Stephen Baldwin just plopped back into mediocrity and the other guy (says it all that I can't even remember his name!), well, I think I saw him working in Tescos the other week (Hollywood can be so cruel...) Also, like RD, the film made a name of it's director, Bryan Singer, who would go on to enjoy further success with the X-Men films.
Occasionally, just occasionally, I think Hollywood needs films like this to pop up and flush a load of new talent on the screen. I'm certainly glad I finally saw it and look forward to a (possible) second viewing tonight. *****