An Extraordinary Thriller

Rating: 10/10 (4 March 2015)

"X-Man" director Bryan Singer and Oscar winning scenarist Christopher McQuarrie surpassed themselves when they concocted "The Usual Suspects," one of the best, all-time crime thrillers ever produced. After they are taken into custody by the New York Police Department to appear in a line-up, five criminals conspire together to carry out a couple of high risk heists. Actually, an enigmatic individual has recruited this quintet because each of them has either stolen from or interfered with him. At the heart of this slick but sophisticated thriller is a super criminal named Keyser Soze. Meantime, a dedicated Customs official, Dave Kujan is in hot pursuit of one of these five, a former cop, Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) who did time in jail for murdering several people. Initially, Dave (Chazz Palminteri) thought that Keaton was dead when he found him in a restaurant bargaining with two other business men. The other men who spent a time in jail with Keaton are Hockney (Kevin Pollak), Kint (Kevin Spacey), Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), and McManus (Stephen Baldwin), and before the night is over, they plan to hit an illegal NYPD courier service.