The Usual Suspects Chad'z rating: **1/2 (out of 4 = OK) 1995, R, 108 minutes [1 hour, 48 minutes] [mystery/crime] starring: Kevin Spacey (Verbal), Gabriel Byrne (Keaton), Stephen Baldwin (McManus), Chazz Palmintari (Customs Special Agent Dave Kujon), produced by Bryan Singer, Michael McDonnell, written by Christopher McQuarrie, directed by Bryan Singer.
If O. Henry was alive today, "The Usual Suspects" might be the type of story he would write. This film is jam-packed with details, detective work, conspiracies, action, adventure, and most of all mystery. It's interesting to watch because of the way that the story is told, but what holds it back is the fact it's too much of a confusing Hollywood mystery to take seriously.
The story is a generic crime/mystery story. We work our way up to "now" through a series of flashbacks. We meet our main character, Verbal (Spacey), a small time hood who is about to post bail in L.A., but Customs Special Agent Dave Kujon (Palmintari) thinks there's more to the story than he's telling them. He interviews Verbal about the history leading up to the incident that is the climax and most important part of the story.
Basically, the story surrounds five different hoods who are arrested because they are, as the title states, the usual suspects. Gabriel Byrne is fine as Keaton, the so-called leader, while Stephen Baldwin goes a bit overboard as the wannabe psycho McManus. But considering the casting of such characters, the film's first major flaw is evident (Kevin Pollack as a dangerous, wanted felon?). In fact, the characters themselves seem very out of place. Eventually the story gets past this and starts to tell its complicated story of international crime and conspiracies.
The gang is confronted by a European businessman who works for Keyser Soze, supposedly the most ruthless gangster on the Earth (although no one has heard of him). The man leaves behind evidence that could convict them all without a shadow of doubt. It turns out each of them had all stolen from Soze, but didn' t know it at the time. In order to make restitution, they must destroy a Hungarian ship supposedly carrying $91 million in cocaine from one of Soze's rivals. This is could be considered a typical gangster movie plot device, but it's not told in a typical manner.
The element of the mythological, devil-like Soze is creative, but it doesn't have as much effect on the mood as it wants to. It's almost as if the film is trying to take some of the things that made "The Crow" excellent and apply it to a more realistic setting.
Most of the film is a serious of crimes and other events between the gang and associates of Soze. There's a lot of action, but it's not always exciting because it's so difficult to tell what's happening and why. The ending is a real shocker though, it almost makes you want to watch the whole thing over again.
"The Usual Suspects" is a well-made picture, but it just tries too hard... period.
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