A Suspect to Watch

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2013)

The Usual Suspects is an intelligent film that is intertwined with action, mystery, and drama that is set apart from analogous drama, action, and mystery films. It is not filled to the brim with action, nor is it filled with drama. It does not go the traditional route in the mystery, where it forces the viewer to play along with its game of 'whodunit.' Attention is caught within the first five minutes of the film by immediately giving us a taste of the mystery that is to come. It is a film that keeps its action and drama in a healthy balance whilst keeping the viewer guessing about a mystery that develops midway into the movie, all the way till the end.
We begin with our 'usual' suspects by first being introduced to the Dean Keaton character (Gabriel Byrne) heavily wounded and destined for death on a ship rigged to explode (Singer, 1995). The other 'suspects' are soon introduced starting with Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Kevin Spacey), Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), and Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro). The story centers on the exploits of these five men weeks before with the culmination of these events leading up to a rigged explosion of a Hungarian freighter (Singer, 1995). Upon unraveling the mystery, an important lesson that rings true in nearly any mystery is learned regarding an important theme to this movie which is "even with clues in the plot strewn here and there, the true perpetrator may be the person you least suspect."
This may be observed by characters such as a surviving Hungarian shipmate making claims that the main perpetrator was a man named Keyser SÃ¶ze, with yet another distinct claim being made by a US Customs agent by the name of Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) (Singer, 1995). The acting of misdirection used by the culprit character is also important to note as it relates to the theme. This theme of "The cause may be the thing you least suspect" is similar to a theme that is of minor focus in the film Citizen Kane. A cause of Mr. Kane's death came from the recollection of "Rosebud," again being something of a clue, but not what one would expect to be the culprit (Welles, 1941).
Certain cinematic touches and techniques are implemented to add to the films storytelling elements which don't go unnoticed. The lighting is done well to advance storytelling elements such as foreshadowing into the mystery. An example of this lighting technique is in the scene introducing the 'Verbal' character where the lighting makes Verbal's head resemble a skull (Singer, 1995). This technique subtly adds to the theme by giving the viewer a clue into the mystery. Further enhancing the quality of the film is the infusion of a motif that is present in the character known as 'Verbal' who lives up to his name (Singer, 1995). He is a fast talking and feeble small talker who further supports the theme as he leaves subtle clues as to who the true culprit may be every time he derails the topic to small talk (Singer, 1995).
All in all, this a film full of surprises to the point where any prediction made on the viewer's part as to what will happen next is a foolhardy and foolish endeavor. You cannot just blindly assume anything to be true as human suspicion can prove to be faulty and, of course, "the true perpetrator may be the person you least suspect."
References
Singer, B. (Director) (1995). The usual suspects (DVD).
Welles, O. (Director) (1941). Citizen Kane (Web). Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MMY5RK/