I imagine this film was superbly effective when it was first released

Rating: 7/10 (28 July 2006)

Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects is easily one of the most original and most talked-about films of the 1990s with a notorious ending-twist. Because of this and the fact that it was being advertised as a run-of-the-mill crime thriller back in 1995, I can only imagine what a shocker it was when no one knew about its surprising turn when walking into the threatre. You bet a lot of people must have spilled out their popcorn. Today, however, some of its riveting effect has subsided as the twist is so well-known and anticipated for new viewers. It becomes the whole film. It's setting itself up to be anti-climactic with such hype, and it just about makes it.
However, The Usual Suspects is, first and foremost, a heist film about five men working together to pull of amazing jobs involving narcotics, money and hits. The story of these heists is told in flashbacks from one of these five men's perspective as he retells it in a police office, the day after they've been caught and killed. Kevin Spacey is this one man and he is definitely an eccentric character, and the way he tells the story is a real thrill -- the tiniest details have been meticulously crafted into the script, crammed with fast dialogue, sprinkled with equal doses of humour and suspense, featuring several story lines and a multitude of characters and names to remember, and it becomes a big mess that you can impossibly keep track of, even with a notepad. Just ask Roger Ebert.
The Usual Suspects gets points for being uniquely constructed, and for sending shivers en masse down your spine at the end. But other than this, is it a greatly enjoyable movie? No, not really. It is actually borderline tedious and exhausting at times, and relies solely on its twist to be a good film. Like I say, it just about makes it but this is nothing I'd call the 15th greatest film of all time.
7/10