Response to some previous reviewers

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2001)

===SPOILERS, DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE==> One previous review faulted The Usual Suspects because Verbal Kint's story is presented as factual, not as just a story...whoever that reviewer was, you missed the entire point of the movie. Kint's story WAS factual, all of it was true. He only made up new names to protect himself and Kobayashi. For example, the name Redfoot appears on one poster. If Kint had used the fence's real name, detectives later on could have found Redfoot, interrogated him to find Kobayashi (we assume that is the employee of Soze that Redfoot did business with), and in turn they could have gotten to Soze himself. Kint also used the cork board to make up the stories about the barbershop quartet and the coffee in Guatemala, that was just to fill in useless chatter (he is named Verbal...we see even Soze has a sense of humor) and make himself look stupid and innocent to the detective. But the rest of his testimony really happened.
Another reviewer said that the movie doesn't give enough hints and clues as to the ending, and listed The Sixth Sense and Fight Club as better examples of movies with surprise endings. First of all, the Sixth Sense and Fight Club made it TOO obvious, any moron could figure out the "surprise" halfway through. These movies would be absolutely nothing without the ending. Hell, they were horrible even with the ending. As for the clues, there were a few subtle hints in the Usual Suspects that pop up watching the movie a second time. There is Soze's pseudonym Verbal, which I have already mentioned. Also, in the sequence where they are conducting the assault on the boat, at one point Kint is standing behind one of his friends, I forget which, and his friend is trying to determine what language the people on the boat are speaking. He has no idea, but Kint immediately says "Hungarian". How would a stupid thug living in America recognize the Hungarian language? Kint knows it is Hungarian because he is Kaiser Soze, a criminal who had his beginnings in Hungary. Another clue is when Kint is waiting in the detective's office, and the detective is talking with his coworker outside. His coworker tells him that Kint is "protected from up high by the Prince of Darkness." It is curious that a stupid, gimped, small-time criminal would have this much influence.
In conclusion, I think that The Usual Suspects is a complex, but entirely plausible story who's surprise ending enhances the rest of the story, instead of serving as the only attraction, as in The Sixth Sense and Fight Club. After seeing the Usual Suspects once, I instantly bought it on video and have enjoyed watching the entire film again and again.