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The Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: a masterpiece for the gameboy generation
Review: the usual suspects is primarily interesting on one level: in it's ability to surprise. if you watch movies to be intrigued by plot twists and aren't looking for much emotional involvement, perhaps this is a movie which will please. certainly the filmmakers and actors have created a clever piece of work.

if, on the other hand, you watch movies looking for something more-- let's say, something more mysterious, more ephemeral, something perhaps inspiring, or beautiful, something that gets into your soul the way great music (whether U2, Mahler, Miles Davis, Jeff Buckley, Manu Chao, Mozart, Cat Stevens, Eminem, you name your favorite) or great movies can, then I personally see very little here for you. there are no human truths here (the way there are in great thrillers by Hitchcock or John Huston, or Kurosawa (Rashoman-- that's clever, because it's about people!) there is no emotional subtext (except perhaps the unwittingly revealing narcissism of the filmmaking and a couple of over the top, showy performances, which reminded me more of a fashion show than the art form practiced by brando, james dean, sean penn, etc, an art form which makes the human soul visible).

the sad part is that the audiences, whose capacities to feel have been reduced by suckling from the tv nipple for so many years, lapped it up, proclaiming it a "great movie." and critics, desperate to suck up to the crowd (and hungry to find anything remotely "new") lined up to proclaim its structure innovative and "post modern."

in the end, i have nothing really against it except the fact that
i didn't care much about the characters and so i found the movie slightly boring despite all the games being played. frankly, perhaps i found the general coldness of the movie off-putting. even the darkest of characters usually have souls.

as a result, i felt that all the acclaim showed up how impoverished our pop culture (or at least the most hyped part of it) really is. (perhaps not a fair way to judge the film, but somehow the film seems to want to be taken seriously). if "chinatown" (a film with a dark but deeply felt vision of life) were released today, perhaps people would find it boring.

there are some true gems out there -- even the cohen brothers at their most "detached" still show an infinitely greater interest in the humanity of their characters than this film.

a masterpiece for the gameboy generation.
Rating: 5 stars
Summary: (Mostly) 25 Word Or Less Review
Review: Serpentine mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end. Outstanding cast, script, and direction. One of the finest motion pictures I've ever seen.DVD sidenote: Commentary track with Singer & McQuarrie actually worth watching.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Flip ya. Flip ya for real.
Review: This movie was suggested to me by a friend of mine, and so I rented it. I had no idea what I was getting into. This movie has all around the best acting, directing, writing, cinmetography, and sound editing I think I've ever seen in a film (and I've seen tons of films.) This is a movie you will want to buy so you can watch it repeated times. But I warn you, you will never completely figure it out. Kevin Spacey and everyone else in the movie is awesome. This is deffinately one of the best films ever!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Flawless!
Review: Spacey, in a role written for him, delivers in a complex and engrossing film that has to be purchased, as repeat viewings are mandatory for this exquisite film.

I won't rehash certain elements, as I'm sure you can find all you need in other reviews. But, if you are a fan of films that require you to engage your brain, then this movie is definitely on your must-see list. The performances are all filled with subtexts, and the story is tight as a drum!

Also, the ending is the reason DVD players need a 'review' button. I can guarantee you will be glad you bought The Usual Suspects, rather than pay rental fees multiple times.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not Your Usual Movie!
Review: This is an amazing movie that keeps you riveted and guessing the entire time! Character development is excellent, pacing is outstanding, this is just a great flik with a stunner of an ending! Let your concentration flag for an instant and you'll be lost forever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WATCH IT
Review: It's the best movie in its class.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great movie
Review: Not sure that I can add too much to the other reviews that have been posted here, but the Usual Suspects is just a top-notch flick. Few movies are as successful at keeping the viewer in suspense, and even fewer have such a fantastic cast. Gabriel Byrne and Benecio Del Toro were great, while Kevin Spacey was tremendous. One of the best films in its genre.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing movie
Review: Amazing, thats all i have to say...amazing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow
Review: From the very start, there's something very big building up. You want to know who this Kaiser Soze is, since his name comes up as the most notorious criminal around. Verbal Kent (Spacey) narrates to a police officer on what he knew about certain events he might have been involved in. It all ends up with one big ass surprise. An amazing twist to it. There's plenty to laugh at, as well as wait for in this movie. Lots of suspense, action and mystery- enough to make you watch it again, and again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: And like that - he's gone.
Review: San Pedro: the aftermath of what looks like a huge explosion dockside. The burning wreckage of a boat and the charred remains of bodies are being dragged out of the harbour by the authorities. It seems like the classic heist gone wrong scenario: five criminals trigger bloody mayhem in attempting to hijack the exchange of [money amount] worth of cocaine between Argentine and Hungarian gangsters. Only two men escape with their lives, one of the Hungarian gangsters, Arkosh Kovash, and Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey in superb form), one of the five hijackers, and a cripple to boot.

In Bryan Singer's masterful directorial debut we learn how, six weeks earlier, the five men (Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Torro and Spacey) came together in the film's most famous scene - the police identity parade. The Usual Suspects line up for what turns out to be a trumped up police charge which none of them will admit to being implicated in. Locked up in the same cell for the night, they proceed to hatch a plot to rob New York's finest taxi service, a ring of corrupt cops who take bribes from criminals in return for immunity. Only Dean Keaton (the ever impressive Byrne) wants nothing to do with this plan. An ex cop turned criminal, with a reputation for absolute ruthlessness, Keaton is under investigation by FBI agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) despite his attempts to go straight. Keaton and Verbal are already acquainted after meeting in prison some years earlier, but Verbal is unknown to the others, and they will only include him in the job if Keaton is on board as well.

Through Kujan's interrogation of Kint we learn of the unfolding events and how he persuaded Keaton to become involved. The one flaw that each man shares is that he is addicted to committing crime, and predictably after the taxi service heist the men take on another job hijacking a consignment of diamonds. Unfortunately for them, they get involved with the wrong people and soon find themselves forced into taking on what seems like another, suicidal, job.

It becomes clear that there is more to the story than Verbal is letting on, but every time Kujan seems to be getting close to the truth, Kint goes off at a tangent. In parallel to this thread is the interrogation of the horrifically maimed Kovash, who is clearly dying, but before lapsing into unconsciousness in hospital manages to utter the name of the man who seems to be responsible for the carnage in San Pedro, "Keyser Soze".

The name inspires utter terror in Kovash and when Kujan mentions it to Kint, the same terror seems to take hold of him. Reluctantly, Verbal explains the myth of Keyser Soze - a mysterious underworld figure who every criminal has heard about, but whom nobody knows. Legend has it that back in the days when Soze was a relatively minor criminal in Hungary he butchered his own family rather than surrender to the local mob, proceeded to hunt down and kill his persecutors and their families, and then vanished, becoming a kind of bogey man for other criminals who, if they crossed him, inevitably came to a gruesome end.

A razor sharp script by Christopher McQuarrie (which won an Oscar for best screenplay), brilliantly taut and suspenseful direction and a fine ensemble cast make The Usual Suspects an electrifying experience. It possesses all the components to make it one of the best thrillers in recent memory, and will literally have you on the edge of your seat. The fiendishly confusing plot will leave you struggling in its wake and the ending is a stroke of sheer, twisted brilliance. Marvellous.


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