THE USUAL SUSPECTS
A film review by Zak Forsman
Copyright 1997 Zak Forsman
Suicidal Tendencies
Directed by BRYAN SINGER Written by CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE
KEVIN SPACEY as Roger "Verbal" Kint GABRIEL BYRNE as Dean Keaton BENICIO DEL TORO as Fenster STEPHEN BALDWIN as McManus KEVIN POLLAK as Todd Hockney CHAZZ PALMINTERI as Dave Kujan PETE POSTLETHWAITE as Kobayashi
Last year's winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay went to THE USUAL SUSPECTS (an award I was hoping would go to SMOKE, but that wasn't even nominated). This film has an impressive run of dialogue and is well-acted, but in my opinion the story suffers from a serious defect. It seems the story exists only to set up the audience for the twist at the film's end, which by now I'm sure many of you have seen. The sequence is certainly exciting and it is interesting to watch it unfold, but when it is finished, what do you have? Nothing, which can only mean that the story was a perfunctory step on the way to the 'cool idea' that McQuarrie had for an ending. A true use of a twist (or twists) that exist in service the story is CHINATOWN. "...my sister, my daughter, my sister and my daughter!" Each surprising turn moves you closer to opening up the heart of the story, instead of devoiding it of worth. And that is what THE USUAL SUSPECTS did. It essentially said, "most of what you have just seen was a lie." In my opinion, that is nearly as bad as the "it was all a dream" bit used most notably in NORTH. This is something I refer to as cinematic suicide. However, this in no way compares to my disdain over the fact that the story existed only for the sake of the twist/ending.
This film was directed much in the same manner by which it was written. Bryan Singer is the type of director that would be described as stylistic. I put him in the same league as someone like Michael Bay who has brought us the likes of BAD BOYS and THE ROCK. Both of these directors are out to prove that they can do 'cool shots', plain and simple. It's the Tony Scott brand of filmmaking. An example of Bryan Singers work in THE USUAL SUSPECTS would be the matching dissolve he performs from the circular cave scene at the beach to a coffee mug. What was the reasoning for this, you ask? What motivated the apparent relationship between that scene and the coffee mug? Nothing. There is no relationship. Perhaps if the scene at the cave had a strong relation to the man, Kobayashi, which we eventually learn is actually written on the bottom of the coffee mug, there would have been a valid reason for the dissolve. However, the only motivating factors were that they were both round and that Singer thought the dissolve would look neat. Bryan Singer's stylistic approach to filmmaking is about the most superficial I've ever scene--second only to Michael Bay's.
Now, the actor's performances are something to behold. Kevin Spacey (GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS) won an Academy Award for this role and he is a very good character actor. Although, I think he's done a few other films in which he was even more deserving of the award. Gabriel Byrne (MILLER'S CROSSING) perfectly underplays his character as a thoughtful man who seems uninterested by what happens around him until it directly affects him. The rest of the cast performs together well with one exception. Kevin Pollak (A FEW GOOD MEN) does not have a hold on his character at all. He seems to be trying to do a tough guy, but he comes across as, in all honesty, like he's acting like a tough guy. He's done better work before and this hit me as a surprise.
Anyway, you'll either love or hate this film--there's no middle ground because there is very little depth here. I'd say it has about as much depth as PULP FICTION, which I liked because it was about its characters, not the technique. This is also the only film that a certain friend of mine and I disagree on. He called it 'refreshing'. I call it a gimmick.
Writing ** Directing * Acting ****
Ratings are based on the four-star system.
Zak Forsman, filmmaker
Swan Pictures Independent http://www.epix.net/~swan/ swan@epix.net
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