The story is brilliant. The direction of Brian Singer is stylish and smart. The performanes are well rounded and convincing. Even Byrne does a good job of acting here, where normally he is stooge like and unconvincing. Here his character has texture and layers to it that make him interesting.
Character development is flawless here.
We see the five main guys in the line up at the beginning, and we are intoduced to them seperately through Verbal's eyes. This allows us to know the characters individually, before we know them as a group, allowing us to be curious on how they will enter act when they are thrust together. There are big surprises in this film that are not given away early. There is no torch light that shows us the way to the end of this great film. We simply have to writhe in our chairs, anticipating the conclusion to come, which is thoroughly satisfying.