A Crime Fairy Tale

Rating: 10/10 (27 March 2007)

The Usual Suspects is one of those movies that will still be talked about fifty years from now when it airs on a classic movie channel. The thing I like most about this movie is that once you know the ending, every time you watch it thereafter you notice something new about it. It took me about 3 viewings to completely grasp the point of the whole thing. What's not to like here ? The screenplay is terrific, the performances are excellent, the musical score is brilliantly foreboding , and the ending is one of the best ever.
The story starts when "The Usual Suspects" are brought in for a police lineup that sets the stage for the rest of the film. Partly told through the narration of Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) as he is being interrogated by customs agent David Kujuan (Chazz Palminteri) there is more than meets the eye here. After a little bonding experience in the jail, the 5 suspects set out on a crime spree with disastrous results not knowing that they are but pawns in someone else's master plot. As the plot begins to thicken the suspects realize they have unknowingly made it onto the hit list of the iconic crime figure Keyser Soze. Having stolen from Soze, he blackmails all of them into doing one last suicide mission, the purpose of which is the point of the whole movie. What I realized after several viewings is that this movie is not as complex as it seems. The director toys with the audience and makes them look one way and then sucker punches them, while the truth is staring them right in the face the whole time.
I will not give away too much for people who haven't seen this wonderful film, but I will say that the whole point of the movie boils down to two questions. Does Keyser Soze exist and who is he ? Over the years this film has become possibly my favorite of all time. It just seems to get more brilliant with age and it reminds me of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. By now, you probably already know the ending but if you really haven't heard anything about this movie, go rent it now. Heck, go buy it, it's that good.