Rating: 
Summary: Awesome
Review: The ending had such a great twist. I would have never guessed!! The plot is interesting as it is original. This movie shows that the usual suspects don't necessarily make them the right suspects!
Rating: 
Summary: If you knew Soze like I know Soze...
Review: Sometimes it seems that it's almost not worth it to write a less than enthusistic review these days. Any of the critiques below that are less than five star raves garner nothing but "unhelpfuls"--which begs the question: if you already KNOW you love it (or are gonna love it), why bother reading other people's reviews?Well, gang, this one is NOT for the legions who are already devotes of this movie. It's for those who may have heard that it's an ingenious film with a startling surprise ending...and who are intrigued but still not sure if it's for them. Quite simply, Here's how to tell: if you like Tarentino-style plot twists and characterizations, this may be for you. It's not nearly as inventive as "Pulp Fiction" or "Reservoir Dogs," but it is clever enough for an evening's entertainment. On the other hand, too much cleverness can be a trap. "The Usual Suspects" is just a tad too self-congratulatory for my tastes. And yes, if you know the genre at all, it IS possible to guess the ending. And yes again, the cast is impressive--more impressive than the dialogue or the direction. So Bryan Singer went on to direct such masterpieces as "Apt Pupil"? Hmmm, that says a lot. (SPOILER WARNING: Did they come up with the arch-villain's name only after they had cast the film?)
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I rented this movie as a recommendation from a friend, as well as from the reviews. At first, I couldn't follow the movie, it seemed a little too confusing. It wasn't until an hour until the movie that it began to make sense in my mind, and then the ending hit me in the face-AND that's where my mind began to backtrack and all the other parts of the movie came together. How it seemed a bumbling, crippled fool pulled the wool over four other unsuspecting crooks' eyes as well as the police force. And walks away clean. Not to mention a $91M fortune. Not bad for an idiot! Kevin Spacey is convincing, and brilliant!
Rating:
Summary: Yes, the movie really is all that.
Review: I've read a few complaints about this movie, based on a couple of really repetitive factors. I'll try to address these, and then... give you my opinion. Make of it what you will. "Expletive laden/language" - Well, folks, I've got news for some of the sheltered: real people talk like this. It happens every day. And the more violent, or direct, or less socially constrained people use this language. Get over it. It gives the movie an element of realism. "Didn't feel for the characters" - I can understand this one. These characters are rough, mean and relatively unforgiving. There is very little mercy in this entire movie, and it's a little disturbing for people used to Mel Gibson-type characters. Live with it. There are parts of the world all around us that exist in exactly this kind of mode. If that scares you, too bad. Realistic, or even kinda not-so-realistic looks at that are important. It acknowledges that they exist. And this reflects it quite well. "Makes no sense" - *sigh* There are those who didn't understand the movie. That happens. But rest assured (those of you who haven't seen it) that all will be explained by the time the credits roll. If you saw The Matrix, and were not confused by it, then you should track this just fine. The key, of course, is to free your mind (unintentional, but I'm leaving it in) and be observant. Don't wander off in the middle of this movie without pausing it, or you'll miss some clues. ;)
For those of you who saw it, and thought it made no sense, looking at it this way might help: The entire story is about a story told by Verbal, and what Dave hears and sees, rather than what Verbal says and shows. Consider it. Hope I didn't ruin it for anyone. I think this is a great movie, and the acting is simply first rate. Kevin Pollak is outstanding, and Spacey is god-like. Just fantastic! Bought it, no regrets at all.
Rating:
Summary: All Inspiring
Review: This is the best ever film i have seen. Forget 'The Matrix', forget 'The Gladiator', this is a masterpiece in film making. The acting by all the suspects are amazing and kevin spacey plays his part with all inspiring class. The plot is full with detail, thrill and suspense and i dont think there is anything more you can ask from a film. The best film i have seen yet with no exaggeration. Just watch it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Murder mystery without peer
Review: This is one of the best movies of its type that I have ever seen. It is a modern classic in my opinion. I have never heard of anyone who didn't like it, buy it, you won't be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable Whodunit
Review: I rented this because it is on some top 100 list, and I was surprised at how engaging I found it. The acting is good, the plot is fascinating. I couldn't even have guessed the ending. The film alternates between scenes from the present and about 6 months prior. Some may find that unnerving, but it is very well written. I recomend this film for anyone who likes mysteries or crime stories.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie
Review: This is what The Sixth Sense wanted to be.
Rating:
Summary: A puzzle for the mind but not the heart...
Review: The script is both the hero and the villaim in this film. Undoubtedly well-written, with abundant (albeit expletive laden) wit, the script establishes characters of great potential interest but fails to develop them. Gabriel Byrne's character in particular contains elements that beg to be explored - a former corrupt policeman, now reformed thief, in a relationship with a lawyer, trying to live legitimately, with ties to a club-footed conman: one might expect some complex and conflicting motivations to be played out in the plot - surprisingly, the character quickly becomes one-dimensional. The fact that Kevin Spacey's conman is largely 'narrating' the film only deepens this problem, since he refuses to complicate his own relationship with any of the characters in the tale - he is an inarticulate 'friend' of Byrne, and simply distant and untouched by any of the others. Frankly, I don't think the central conceit of the film necessitates this failing. The convolutions of the plot actually boil down to a fairly straightforward premise, and when one finds this out, one can wonder why all the convolutions were necessary, and, for me, this makes it difficult to care about the film as a whole - it means the plot, while coherent, is poorly motivated, and as already mentioned the movie fails as a character study. Still, the acting is by turns subtle, convincing and humorous, and the 'myth' of Kaiser Szozy (?spelling) is a suggestive and cleverly dramatised idea. The film is a highly polished product. Yet I'm not sure why anyone would want to see this twice, aside from trying to fit a loose piece here or there into the overall puzzle - there are no illuminating insights into human nature, no compelling relationships, and the visuals while competent are hardly memorable. It's a bit like seeing a skillful magicain perform a complicated trick - very entertaining, even thrilling, but with little connection to one's emotions.
Rating: 
Summary: Too clever for its own good.
Review: Confusion remains the common denominator in "The Usual Suspects," in which director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie are determined to create a fresh and inviting thriller, but come up empty. The star-studded cast is a delight to watch, but the film is so fixated on its own cleverness and originality that it quickly loses interest, deadening the impact of a surprise twist ending that may have worked had it had a better lead-up. Perhaps what makes the film so cumbersome is its shift from past to present, and vice-versa. Beginning with an explosion aboard a ship on which a shootout has just occurred, the movie then shifts back six weeks to the arrest of five men, all accused of stealing a van full of weaponry. Four of the men, Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Fred Fenster (Benicio del Toro), Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollack), and Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), concoct a plan of revenge against the NYPD, and the hesitant Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) joins in. After a deluge of plot twists and scenarios that seem completely out of place, the group finds themselves on the West Coast, at the mercy of a well-known man by the name of Keyser Soze, whose lawyer gives each of them a file documentation of their lives as watched by Soze. The motive: each of them has wronged Soze at some point in the past, and their chance for repentance comes with the raid on a cocaine deal set to go down in three days. All of this is narrated and seen in the mind of Kint, played with a fiendish glee by Kevin Spacey, who turns in a well-rounded performance. The rest of the cast also leave lasting impressions: Stephen Baldwin makes a great all-around bad boy, Benicio del Toro is increasingly witty, Kevin Pollack is the ideal picture of gruff and uneasy, and Gabriel Byrne instills in his character a growing sense of unease. But their talents are ultimately cast into a lost cause. "The Usual Suspects" manipulates its viewers to the end, taking us where only it wants to go, leaving no room for speculation or thought on the events at hand. It does this by throwing so much at the audience at once that the fear of missing out on something intrical to the overall plot becomes unbearable. In trying to think about what was going on, and watching each scene with full concentration, I almost went mad. In effect, the ending to Christopher McQuarrie's screenplay has little impact. You will be surprised at the movie's final turn of events, but the material prior to it lacks enough interest or even coherence to give the twist any logical sense. To me, the ending seems more like a blind leap towards greatness than a satisfying payoff to the film's convoluted script. Many will disagree with my thoughts on "The Usual Suspects," and some may even recommend watching it twice to understand the film's twists. I did, and came up short both times. Aspirations of greatness are evident throughout the plot, but they amount to little more than just aspirations. As much as I wanted to understand the central story, I can't forgive a film that throws so much into the pot that the soup is too thick to thin out again.
|
