Nothing Remotely 'Usual' about It!

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 2015)

The irony here is that nothing is remotely 'usual' about The Usual Suspects. The plot is a Chinese puzzle box of a thriller.
Roger 'Verbal' Kint, a crippled con man (Kevin Spacey), is one of two survivors of a massacre and ship-burning on a south Los Angeles pier. Before Verbal can be questioned in full, he's offered immunity. Something's up, and customs agent David Kujan has only a few hours to talk to Verbal. Through their informal talk, a story is revealed: Five top-of-the-line criminals (including Kint) are picked up for an NYPD lineup as suspects in a hijacking incident. According to Kint, the quintet, angry about the lineup, join forces to heist an illegal operation for Keyser Soze, who is supposedly the one pulling the strings all along - a fiend incarnate, he says. As the Los Angeles police start their own investigation, Verbal runs Kujan through the hoops, an interplay as exciting as an action sequence. And thus starts the labyrinthine story!
What sets The Usual Suspects apart from the crowd is the striking intensity of the performances, the show-off brilliance of the dialog and the diabolical complexity of the plot directed to perfection by the then relatively new Bryan Singer. Singer's sensationally assured direction exerts a riptide pull. He along with screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, have plenty of surprises up their collective sleeve, breathing new life into the heist-noir genre. Also, he gives us the character of Keyser Soze - a faceless yet discernible movie element - so enthralling and sinister; it will crop up in pop culture references for years. The Usual Suspects is acted to sweet perfection with an absolutely riveting centerpiece performance by Kevin Spacey. A terrific supporting cast of exciting actors socks over this absorbingly complicated yarn that's been spun in seductively slick fashion.
A whammy of a surprise ending makes you want to see the film again to see if Singer pulled a few fast ones to make the pieces fit. The Usual Suspects is an entertaining mystery with plenty of nerve and vigor. A must watch!