"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist". - Verbal Kint

Rating: 10/10 (7 June 2005)

#1 Best Film of 1995
One of the best years for movies was 1995. Extraordinary films such as Braveheart, Apollo 13, Heat, Leaving Las Vegas, Nixon, Casino, Seven, and Dead Man Walking were released, in this, perhaps the very best year of film yet. However, the motion picture that out shined all of these excellent movies, was the film, 'The Usual Suspects'. This indie film-noir blew away audiences across the globe when it was released in theaters. The public was impressed with it's incredible writing, dazzling direction, and an all-star cast including Gabriel Byrne (Miller's Crossing), Kevin Spacey (American Beauty), Chazz Palminterri (Bullets Over Broadway), Stephen Baldwin (One Tough Cop), Kevin Pollack (A Few Good Men) and Benico Del Toro (Traffic). 'The Usual Suspects' was a surprise hit, that kind of came out of nowhere. Both the director and screenwriter of the feature were very unknown, so before viewing this masterpiece, people really didn't know what to expect. I think it's safe to say most people got a hell of a lot more then they expected, making 'The Usual Suspects' one of the most successful and most talked about independent films of all time.
The story line centers around an explosion on a ship in the heart of Los Angeles, killing all it's passengers (who were mostly Hungarian Mafiosos) except two, a nearly dead Hungarian mafia button man and the other being a gimp con artist from New York City, Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Spacey), who was brought in for a police line-up by the NYPD a couple months before, with four other guys who all died on the exploding ship. Verbal tells the F.B.I. who questions him, he was on the ship to ensure a $91 Million cocaine deal with the Hungarian mafia with the four other convicts -- Todd Hockney (Pollack): a foul-mouthed wise-ass hardware specialist, Michael McManus (Baldwin): a deranged convict who works as the "entry man", Fred Fenster (Del Toro) : McManus partner with a muddled unintelligible dialect, and Dean Keaton (Bryne), a dirty ex-cop turned criminal, who was thought and confirmed to be dead three years prior to this in a warehouse fire. Kint's story is the boat set fire, and all the other cons died but him. The D.A. accepts that explanation, but U.S. Customs Special Agent David Kujan (Palminterri) doesn't when he later finds out there was no cocaine on that boat. Kujan sets up an interview with Verbal Kint to get to the bottom of what truly happened on the pier that night. But, Kint is smarter then Agent Kujan estimated, and the Kint's retelling of what happened becomes more unbelievable with every word, and Kint and Kujan are always fighting a battle of wits, which eventually leads to the mystery or legend of the Hungarian mob boss who everyone is afraid of named Keyser Soze.
'The Usual Suspects' is filled to the brim with terrific qualities such as acting, directing, cinematography, an awesome musical score, and most notably the writing. Newcomer Christopher McQuarrie, gives us an astonishingly well-written and powerful screenplay, which holds perhaps the most intricate and most unpredictable endings in cinema history. Bryan Singer (X-Men, Apt Pupil) does a fine job behind the camera, especially during the magnificent line-up sequence which takes place about fifteen minutes into the film. The acting aspect of the feature has nos weaknesses whatsoever. Gabriel Bryne gives his best performance since 'Miller's Crossing' as the ex-crooked cop, Dean Keaton. This excellent and complex screen performance should have earned Bryne an Oscar Nomination for Best Lead Actor. Stephen Baldwin (yes, the Baldwin brother who was in Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore) is perfect as the greedy psychopath criminal, and Kevin Pollack is often funny and if I may say great as the angry/sarcastic little guy. Benico Del Toro is consistently hilarious and you never can quite figure out what the hell he is saying, and I never really understood how marvelous of an actor Chazz Palminterri truly was until his turn as the determined Customs agent, another Academy Award-nominee worthy performance. The stand-out of the cast, of course, is Kevin Spacey in his Oscar winning role as the smart, clever and manipulative gimp, Verbal Kint. Kevin Spacey gives us a performance of such unbelievable power, grit, skill and passion, that it ranks up there as the very best supporting male screen performance of all time. PERIOD! Spacey achieves marvel and utter perfection (which is extremely rare even for excellent actors), in this perhaps his finest role besides his leading role in 1999's 'American Beauty'. John Ottman provides a haunting musical score that will stay with you long after the film's completion, and the film's unbelievably crafty twist ending will stay with you even longer. 'The Usual Suspects' also stars Dan Hedaya, Giancarlo Esposito, Suzy Amis and Pete Postelwaithe as Koboyashi, Keyser Soze's cool-headed and laid-back British lawyer who employs the five cons to pull the boat job.
When it all is over, 'The Usual Suspects' proves to be an absolute masterpiece. The film is absolutely perfect every way you cut it. 'The Usual Suspects' isn't one of those flicks you see once and forget about. It's a movie that will stay with you for a long time, and have you scratching your head in awe of the well-played out and anything but predictable ending. 'The Usual Suspects' is a film that begs to be talked about and discussed in depth. So, if you haven't, go out and rent (or buy, trust me, you WON'T REGRET IT!) 'The Usual Suspects'. Watch it with a friend, and after it's over, have a long discussion about it. That's the way 'The Usual Suspects' was meant to be viewed. Grade: A+
MADE MY TOP 250 LIST AT # 3