The Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects

A Bryan Singer film that brought home a best supporting actor Oscar for Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects is not an idiot's entertainment. Written by Christopher McQuarrie, the movie starts out on a freighter, where murder is committed, followed by arson. Various scene switches tell the story of Caesar Soze from the point of view of the slowest weakest character in a crew of hijackers. Verbal Kint, a gimp who specializes in the short con method of extracting money from stupid people is the only survivor of a massacre on board a ship that is supposedly carrying a huge shipment of coke. Ninety One Million dollars worth.
Plot synopsis can be found at IMDB, but suffice it to say this is a thinking man's caper movie, with plot twists and turns enough to satisfy even a Sherlock Holmes aficionado.
This is a movie best seen at least twice, for enjoyment. You miss things the first time around, little details that show the fine performances that each of the actors bring to this production.

Gabrial Byrne is Keaton, a man driven by pride to take back some of the dignity that the police steal from him, Benico Del Toro as Fenster, a natty dresser whose accent is barely recognizable. Pete Postlethwaite, as Kobayashi, the lawyer, cool and calculating as the puppet master behind all the events leading up to the ship assault.
Dan Hedaya's office, with all the little details on the wall that are woven into the tale that Dave Kujan, US Customs extracts from Kint before he posts bail and is released from custody.

All these details you miss on the first pass, and all of them fall into seamless place on second, third, and more viewings of this excellent film. Buy it, watch it, again and again. It's better than Cats, and you won't get bored.

Critiquegod's Rating E for Exceeds Expectations.