The Best Brain-Popper Since The Maltese Falcon.

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2015)

I think The Maltese Flacon was the first movie that required multiple viewings because of how complex and confusing the story is. Fast-forward almost fifty years to the movie that is just as hard to follow and just as good as Bogart's classic. ("The Usual Suspects" actually comes from a line in Bogie's best-known film, Casablanca.) In fact, this is such a confusing movie, famous and knowledgeable film critic, Roger Ebert called it one of the worst movies of 1995. Why did Ebert not like it? Because he couldn't figure it out! I have seen The Usual Suspects enough times that I know exactly what it's about and I could help anybody understand it. It really feels good figuring out an all-too complex story.
The complex story unfolds with a massive explosion at a harbour where one mangled survivor in the hospital puts together a police sketch of Keyser Soze: the crime boss and brains behind the operation, who has never been seen. Meanwhile, disabled Verbal Kint (Spacey) escaped and spills his guts to Agent Kujan (Palminteri). He confesses that he and four other con men (Baldwin, Byrne, Del Toro, Pollack) met at a rigged line-up and do a series of heists that leads to the infamous Keyser Soze's right-hand man (Postlethwaite) to do the ultimate job. As Kint's story progresses, the movie becomes all that more confusing. As the movie nears the end, twists erupt with an ending that will leave you speechless. It is one of those endings that is just as shocking as finding out Bruce Willis was a ghost is The Sixth Sense and Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. It is also one of those endings where the viewer has to make some rash decisions about what they think they saw. Once all the pieces of the puzzle are in place and you fully understand the movie, the greatness of the flick grows and you feel a great sense of accomplishment.
4/4