Too clever for it's own good.

Rating: 3/10 (31 October 2008)

I'm not much for writing reviews. But then again, there's not a lot of films where I go against popular opinion. The Usual Suspects is an exception.
***SPOILER WARNING***
The Usual Suspects is an exception because it lies. It lies because it presents itself as a clever mystery; as a riddle. Except riddles are solvable. Trying to solve The Usual Suspects is like trying to solve a jigsaw with lego pieces.
Not counting final few moments, the film is actually good. It takes you into the final scenes with great anticipation. 'Finally', you say, 'the twist will be revealed, which will put everything into perspective.' The film doesn't do that. Instead, the twist leaves you with endless questions. It leaves you thinking, 'Why did any of that just happen?' Why does Verbal design an intricate plan to recruit four nobodies when he could just pay people? Why does he tell Kujan his story using phrases from the bulletin board, when he can easily be discovered?
And to top it off, the final scene is almost as bad as the twist itself. Verbal gets away, but all too late. He's been found out. Two hours of lies for nothing.
The Usual Suspects tries combine mystery and a clever twist and fails. Fails hard. The 'mystery' is nothing but lies, and the 'clever twist' is anything but clever.
3/10