A Perfectly Crafted Mystery - (very ambiguous spoiler)

Rating: 10/10 (4 February 2005)

Kaiser Soze is a super-criminal of almost comic-book stature. Legendary among an underground of testosterone and nicotine-driven low-life 'usual suspects' of this film - Soze - remains unseen, fantastic, just outside of the camera's view, and detached from any reality we might call familiar or real. Nevertheless, he is the central character in the film, and the single force of will driving the entire film. The viewer, like the characters portrayed, must constantly ask 'Who is Kaiser Soze, does he even exist?", and - as silly as it might seem - "is he the devil himself?".
Soze's irresistible will is represented and enforced by an emissary (the stone-faced Pete Postlethwaite) who is just as cold-hearted as any of the hardened criminals who comprise 'The Usual Suspects'.
The narrative begins and almost ends as a retrospective with just a bit of very necessary voice-over narrative by Spacey. His character - Verbal Kint - is interrogated by Palmintieri concerning the murder of several hardened criminals in a single night aboard Russian ship. Most of the major plot points are highlighted wonderfully by the changes of pace and camera work afforded by the shift between one plot - the events leading to Kint's interrogation - and another - the interrogation itself.
Kint, physically disabled and emotionally disturbed, is himself a desperate, down-on-his luck, petty criminal whose chief talent seems to be getting mixed up with and attaching himself to more talented criminals. His latest 'friend' - Keating (Byrne) is a brilliant but depressive thief who is trying to straighten his life out for a woman lawyer he has fallen for. But along with the other 'usual suspects' - expert safe crackers, con men and sociopaths (possibly the best performance of Stephen Baldwin's career thus far) all - Keating is swept up into agreeing to do 'one final job'. In a fine piece of character interpetation, Byrne plays denial to the hilt telling himself that this job, if successful, could end his life in crime permanently.
These expert thieves, con men and killers meet in a bogus police line-up one night and from that point on, they are bound together under the control of Soze until they either succeed or fail in the crime he has laid before them.
Soze has been betrayed, whether directly or indirectly, by each of these men, and he leaves them all no choice. Accept the crime plan or die. They accept, knowing that their odds of success are, to say the least, very limited.
The entire feeling of this film shifts radically from the action of the main plot (described in Kint's narrative) and the narrative itself (Kint's interrogation). While this may look simply like a clever piece of film work, it is actually a very brilliant plot device, as both story lines are finally united in the stunning and brilliant finish.
While I am not usually a ready fan of mysteries, and even less interested in thrillers, this film was pure entertainment from start to finish.
Director Singer has established himself as a pioneer in ensemble cast direction, and this film alone (his third) should have awarded him that title.
The performances are, without exception, flawless. While flawlessness or some approximation of it is something I generally expect from people like Spacey, Byrne, and Del Toro, many of the folks in this film very much surprised me. I now watch out for folks like Kevin Pollak, for example. Without detracting from the performers whatsoever, some credit for the stunning quality of the performances must go to the director, editor, script and cinematography team. This film makes them all look positively great.
I was bitterly disappointed by the fact that this film did not take many Academy Awards in its release year. While I realize that the academy's choices do not always reflect quality or achievement, I prefer to maintain at least a superficial guise of hopefulness. The fact that Usual Suspects did not win for editing was the biggest shock. I can not think of a better piece of editing.