An Amazing Film

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2000)

Surely, if you haven't seen "The Usual Suspects", you know of the great reputation it carries. Well, it deserves every bit of it. It is simply a wonderful combination of inventive film-making, a great story, and absolutely wonderful acting (and casting, for that matter).
I'm not sure I've ever seen a film where every actor in the cast was this good, especially an ensemble cast. The absolute best scenes are the dialogue that occurs between Spacey (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but has the most screentime of anyone) and Chazz Palmintieri, who is really in his element as a tough-guy cop. He never seemed to feel right in numerous bad guy roles, and he gives a great performance here as what I would term the most moral character.
There are a number of underappreciated actors who are excellent here. I've always been a big fan of Kevin Pollak, and this is by far his best dramatic role. The sam can be said of Stephen Baldwin, who luckily found time to be in this this between such forgettable films as "Bio-Dome". It was nice to see Giancarlo Esposito, who's another guy that deserves more acclaim. Dan Hedaya, who has had one of the stranger acting careers in recent memory (remember Nick Tortelli on "Cheers"?) is fine in a bit role. This is the only role I've ever like Pete Posthelwaite in, and Gabriel Byrne and Benicio Del Toro round are very good as main characters. I mention all these people because they were all that good.
The plot is original, breath-taking, and engrossing. It takes you through twists and turns you never see coming, but never takes a turn that leads to complete unbelievability (a la "The Sixth Sense"). The plot is so engrossing that the name Kaiser Soze has become part of popular lingo, despite coming from a low-budget film. The feel of the film, from the sets, to the lighting, to the actual dialogue give the perfect film noir mood.
Also - the ending is the absolute coolest (the best word I can think of) you're likely to ever see. It's and ending where you see it, and just kind of go, "Wow."
This film is easily my favorite movie, and I've seen quite a few. Nothing really matches it in the ability to have every aspect of the film of such high quality.