"The Usual Suspects"- An electrifying and complex thriller. One of the best films of the 90's.

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2016)

There is always that handful of films that help to define their era, shaping popular culture and influencing new talents in storytelling and performing for years- even decades- to come. The 1990's, a strange sort-of transitional period in American culture, brought forth many a modern day classic. Films such as Jonathan Demme's "The Silence of the Lambs", David Fincher's "Fight Club" and Wes Craven's "Scream" revolutionized then-modern cinema and showed a degree of class and complexity within their given genres unlike any we had seen before. And of course, another of these now iconic films was this one... director Bryan Singer's mind-warping and electrifying crime thriller "The Usual Suspects." It's a film that has continued to live on and attain respect as perhaps one of the greatest movies ever made in the twenty plus years since its initial release.
We follow the recollections of con-artist "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), who is apparently one of the few survivors of a bloodbath on the San Pedro Bay. He is interrogated by Customs Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) over what went wrong. Kint weaves an extraordinary tale of five criminals including himself, former crooked cop Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollack) and Fenster (Benicio del Toro), who were brought together seemingly by chance and began to take a series of jobs together just six weeks ago. However, their actions eventually place them into the cross-hairs of a mysterious and mythical figure in the crime world. And they will be forced to perform one last job for this twisted mind known only as "Keyser Soze."
Director Singer, now known for his work on big-budget studio pictures like Fox's popular "X-Men" film franchise, excels at his art in this film- only his second feature-length work. I've long been a fan of his as a skilled and talented visual storyteller, and here he shines with very subtle and even old-fashioned touches that give the tale a degree of timelessness. He eschews the tendency for mid-90's entertainment to constantly be flashy and in-your-face to instead give us long, drawn out and highly deliberate sequences where the entire scene is defined by only dialog or the look of reaction on someone's face. Which is then perfectly accentuated by a few key moments of pure, kinetic style, mainly during the twists and turns the film takes at key moments. It compliments the classic tale of corruption and intrigue being presented and builds off of the expert writing of Christopher McQuarrie.
McQuarrie's script plays a constant and carefully thought-out balancing act that builds suspense and drama on a constant basis, while also giving us plenty of nice, human touches for the frequent piece of levity. It's a film that strikes an admirable and even highly likable and entertaining tone while also subtly hinting towards an ever-pervasive sense of dread beneath the surface. The handling of character is also stunning, with each and every player feeling completely defined and developed regardless of the amount of screen time spent with them through believable and organic dialog and reaction. Even characters that are more unbelievable, such as the mastermind that is Keyser Soze come off as thoroughly engrossing because they are grounded in a sense of reality- in this case as a figment that has become a myth due to his infamy.
This is also very much an "actor's movie", and everyone present gives work that is nothing less than stellar. Spacey and Byrne particularly steal the show as our two "leads." Spacey, now a highly respected legend of the industry, gives the performance that helped define his career and stardom here as an unsure and worried man dealing with the events that have transpired. He also gets much praise for portraying a character dealing with Cerebral Palsy in a realistic and sensitive way. Byrne knocks it out of the park as a man trying to move past his career in crime but can't quite let go- there's some powerful stuff going on beneath the surface with his character. Baldwin, Pollack and del Toro make for a great rest of the gang, and supply plenty of laughs and many a gasp with their turns. Supporting roles by Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Suzy Amis and Giancarlo Esposito build towards creating an ideal ensemble and all act their hearts out no matter the size of their role.
The fact of the matter is, this is one of the new classics to emerge from Hollywood in the past thirty years. And it's impact not only on filmmaking but culture as a whole is undeniable. Even to this day, the perplexing question of "Who is Keyser Soze?" is a highly recognizable and important piece of pop-culture entertainment, and no matter where you are, if you ask someone "Hey, have you seen 'Usual Suspects'?", chances are you'll be met with a smile from someone who has seen and adored it as much as everyone else. And for good reason! It's a wonderful film. Filled with keen visual storytelling, phenomenal writing and some of the greatest acting chops ever put on-screen. It's a masterpiece of its era and is still very much a valuable and entertaining film today.
It easily earns a perfect 10 out of 10 from me. If you haven't seen it, stop what you're doing and go out to pick up a copy. It's well worth it.