Deceit and gullibility...priceless

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2010)

Nothing is as it appears in 1995's mystery thriller The Usual Suspects. Director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie create an intricate puzzle that demands a viewer's total focus in order to unravel the mystery. The twist at the end is the final piece that points to the gullibility of people, including the viewing audience.
The movie begins "last night" and continues to travel between the past and the present in a series of flashbacks to untangle the story. After a Hungarian ship in a California harbor is attacked and set afire, leaving alive only a badly burned foreigner and a cripple aptly named Verbal, the story begins to unfold through the voice-over narration supplied by Verbal. According to Verbal, it all began weeks ago when he and four other criminals were brought together on suspicion of hijacking a truck. Placed in a lineup and then later held together in a cell during questioning, the five criminals plot revenge against the police for hassling them. Stephen Baldwin as McManus portrays a career criminal and expert shooter who is appropriately menacing and threatening. He is tempered by side kick Fenster, played by Benico Del Toro, who provides some comic relief through his mumbling, half-incoherent speech. Kevin Pollack plays Hockney, a criminal with a major chip on his shoulder. Rounding out the line-up of five is Gabriel Byrne whose character Keaton is that of a corrupt ex-cop who is trying to go straight. He needs convincing to join the group and that is left to Verbal, the mild-mannered, seemingly harmless crippled con man played by Kevin Spacey. After their successful revenge job, the five travel from New York to California where they take on a job that eventually puts them in the path of the infamous and mysterious Hungarian criminal Soze, who blackmails them into committing a major cocaine theft. All of this leads back to the burned ship and the attack in the harbor. Verbal, who while telling this story is in the company of Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), a Customs official who very badly wants to pin crimes on Keaton, even linking Keaton to the frightening and elusive Soze, is the only survivor of the original suspects. What appears to be a drug deal gone bad turns into a need to unmask the mysterious Keyser Soze, much as the reporter in Citizen Kane hunts for the meaning behind the word "Rosebud."
The flashbacks could be confusing but the voice-over narration of Verbal help weave the action into a clever tale of gullibility and deceit. The twist at the end leaves the viewer feeling just as gullible and deceived as the characters in the movie. Containing a great script, award-winning acting, and a musical score that contributes to the suspense and mystery of the film, this movie is well-worth the time to view it---several times.