The greatast mystery thriller ever made!

Rating: Null/10 (12 May 2002)

The Usual Suspects is a low budget master piece. With a cast of actors that screams class, and one of the most superbly written scripts, this film delivers the goods it should. Bryan Singer directs, and it is obvious this guy had a vision, he carries out the film with flairy class and creates a tense and gripping movie that come the end will leave you with your tongue hanging out in gormless dis-belief with a longing to watch the movie over and over again. The film starts out with the five central characters participating against their will in a line up, they are all criminals but are arrested seemingly on a trump charge and they need to figure out why, together in a cell they plot to do a job together, and not a job you could call in any way legal. This is in fact all being told by Kevin Spacey's character Verbal, the films actual setting is in a police detectives office as he is questionning Verbal about a slaughter on a boat where over 30 people were killed. The film is mainly told in flashbacks about the events leading up to Verbals interrogation. From the moment their first job is done things gradually build in pace and the air of mystery sets in. Kobayashi is a mysterious man played by Pete Postlethwaite, who claims he works for a guy called Kayzer Soze, a man who may or may not be a myth but who sends shivers down the spines of those who hear his name, rumours are even that this guy may be the devil himself, it turns out that all the five guys in someway owe mr Soze and are required to rob the boat of a large shipment of drugs, nobody knows who soze is but they are scared of him. The film is pure genius, full of twists and turns of which you could only guess by taking a wild stab in the dark. The music is atmospheric, and the way the film spans out is excellent, the director gives you plenty of clues as to the identity of Kayzer Soze and the film has so much depth to it and so many levels. The fact is you never quite know if verbal is telling the truth, we hear the happenings from his point of view but he may be exagerrating or bending the truth, its only the very end when things become clear. All the actors are great, Spacey was worthy of his oscar, and he really impresses here, also Gabriel Byrne is on top form too. Also I must say i'm not a big fan of Steven Baldwin, I've never been too impressed with his films especially the incredibly lame sequal to the Flintstones which in itself was lame, but in this Baldwin is very good as Macmanus the slightly nutty, gun happy criminal. Also Benicio Del Torro and Kevin Pollock have some good roles and most of the humour comes from them. This film is a must see, it has one of the greatest movie plot twists ever. 10/10