Too violent for my taste, but still pretty good

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2003)

I was expecting much out of The Usual Suspects, but much is not what I got. This movie is still very good, but hardly great. The main reason for this is the violence. It tore the film down simply because there was too much blood and shooting, I didn't feel it was needed to move the story forward. The acting is good, Gabriel Brynes does a good job as Keaton, and I thought Kevin Spacey was very good as Keyser Solze, but I think he should have gotten more recognition for John Doe in Se7en and instead of getting a win for this movie, get a win for that. I think that Brad Pitt was much more deserving of the Academy Award then Spacey for his work in 12 Monkeys. Anyways... the script is well done (2nd award for this film), impressively covering all the characters. The ending didn't help the movie improve as did the last twenty minutes of Se7en. Although it is indeed a good ending its not shocking. Although this movie is good, its hardly great. 8.5/10