The Usual Suspects (1995)

After a gun fight on the docks leaves only one survivor with the majority dead, NYC agent Dave Kujan flies in to ensure that ex-cop Dean Keaton is really dead. During the questioning the survivor, Verbal Kint, tells of how events came to happen. Five criminals are brought together in a line up and decide to use the events to plan a job. However another survivor tells an extra story – one involving master criminal Kyser Soze. Kint reveals how the gang were forced into the fateful job by Soze – however who is Soze and why did the men try to steal what appears to be a ship load of drugs that didn't exist?

When I first saw this I saw it in the cinema – the very next day I went back and watched it again. The plot starts with a cliff hanger and appears to gradually answer the mystery - however what it actually does is create more questions for every answer it appears to give. It does this without frustrating you or without confusing the issue – in fact you don't know right till the end that you've been caught in a story teller's web. The plot unfolds like a normal thriller but it is anything but.

The strength of the film is in the writing but it is the direction that also manages to create a great mood. Singer uses clever shots weaving the story into a believable web of deceit. The cast add quality to every single line, every single scene. It's hard to imagine that the film could be the same with any one person changed.

Bryne is great as Keaton, his world weary cop drawn into a plan he can't control – or is he the master behind it all. Spacey gives a great performance as our eyes and ears as he retells the events, he deservedly won an Oscar for this role – before he got all soft and started becoming a starring man. Baldwin has the film of his life (albeit not hard!), he's really good and should be lucky to get another good role. Even the minor roles in the gang are great – Del Toro's performance is even better when you knew why he did it that way. Likewise Pollack will never have a better role – he has genuine tension between him and Baldwin (even in later interviews the dislike still seems real – with things like Pollack telling Baldwin he's sorry that his brothers stole all the food from his table). Palminteri does a great performance and is totally convincing. Postlethwaite is good despite playing an Asian (?) lawyer. Suzi Amis is good in her brief role and Esposito is as good as he always is.

Overall I could talk for hours about this film. It's rare for films now to have decent plots worth talking about however this manages it – it's still twisty and impressive no matter how many times you watch it.

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