Entertaining to the very last line...

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 1999)

This film has got to be one of the greatest in recent history. The ending superb, the acting of the highest caliber, this film shines as the most memorable, clever, and re-watchable of this decade. I personally have seen The Usual Suspects over fifty times, and each time I learn something new. Last year I watched the movie every day for a month, twice a day on weekends. It doesn't matter that I know what happens to each character, it doesn't matter that the end is already placed in the back of my mind, just waiting to explode onto the screen before my eyes in a visual and psychological masterpiece.
When I call the film memorable, I would cite the acting of Kevin Spacey as a prime example. His performance almost makes the end forgetable (even after I've spent so long spouting how memorable the film is. Bare with me, it all makes sense when you take a step back). As I watch from start to finish, I get so wrapped up in the story, and in searching for minor details that I definitely missed the first fifty times (the first six or seven times you are too busy grinning at the obvious facial gestures and body language that you missed the first time around that almost guide you to the logical, yet completely loopey climax), that it never gets boring to me. I will probably continue to watch this incredible movie for the rest of my life.
The supporting cast each lends a little to the overall high quality of this film, in their own way. Postlethwaite is a tall, dark, mysterious enigma; Baldwin is a loud, comedic psychopath; Del Toro adds a quirky accent and sex appeal; Pollack comes through with spunk and charm; Palminteri shines as the arm of the law with pizazz; Byrne is the wistful dreamer, searching for the straight life, caught in a snare between the law that holds him down and the unrelenting crime world that calls him deeper into the criminal fold; and Spacey, well my dear Kevin Spacey is the highlight of the film, innocent and true to his feelings, observant, worthy of sympathy, and admiration towards the end, and the Oscar is well deserved for this stellar performance.
The movie is action packed and well rounded, leaving the viewing audience stunned, baffled, bewildered, and ready to watch again. After the last line is uttered I feel like I did the first time I watched the film, completely in awe for the master deception. I recommend this movie to everyone I know (and don't know for that matter), for it is truly what a movie should be: entertaining and thought provoking. It is my favorite movie of all time (slyly beating out Gone with the Wind).