Unusually good

Rating: 8/10 (7 October 2003)

Brian Singer's thriller tells a slick, ridiculous but hugely entertaining yarn, with a postmodern twist: much of its shock value deriving from confounding the expectations of the audience rather than from the innate properties of the story. Kevin Spacey is excellent as Verbal Kint, the man with a tale to tell the police; and the film as a whole is sharp and concise, leaving the viewer with an appetite for more.
But in spite of this, the film is good, rather than great. There are holes in the plot, and the essential device is actually a breach of the universal contract between the movie-goer and the the film-maker: the only way to avoid being suckered would be to adopt a scepticism so thorough-going that it would be impossible to enjoy this (or indeed any other) fictional tale. Neither of these things really matter, but what is more of a problem is the nugatory quality of what results: instead of delighting us with alternative realities, the film destroys its own premise without putting anything concrete in its place, as if it has no purpose beyond teasing. Teasing, however, is something it does extraordinarily well. In conclusion, 'The Usual Suspects' is a superior work of contemporary entertainment; but too empty to be rated a masterpiece.