The greatest trick the devil ever pulled...

Rating: 10/10 (14 July 2008)

1995's beautifully structured "The Usual Suspects" is really a very simple story. One of only two survivors of a ship explosion (Kevin Spacey) tells a story to the police detective (Chazz Palminteri) in charge of the case about how five career criminals - the "usual suspects" - met in a lineup and wound up working for the man whose very name strikes terror into the hearts of men - Keyser Soze.
As a result, two names were on everybody's lips for some months to come: Kevin Spacey and Keyser Soze.
With a crackerjack script by Christopher Quarrie, great direction by Bryan Singer and terrific performances, The Usual Suspects couldn't miss. And it doesn't. Thirteen years later, I remember it as vividly as the day I saw it. I just saw it again, and it's as good as ever.
Its other stars are the handsome Gabriel Byrne as Keaton, a bad cop who at one point faked his death to avoid criminal charges; and Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Toro, still a distance from stardom, Kevin Pollak, and Giancarlo Esposito as Kobayashi, Keyser Soze's persuasive assistant.
As a scared, not very bright gimpy man, Kevin Spacey is a knockout and well-deserving of his Oscar, his Golden Globe, his SAG Award, his New York Film Critics Award and all his other honors. The writer, Christopher McQuarrie, justly won the Oscar and several other awards. The film and director Singer probably deserved more awards than they received, but it doesn't matter. The Usual Suspects is a modern classic.
The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist...and then he's gone.