Review of The Usual Suspects (1995) by Theapplegnome — 02 Aug 2017

'The Usual Suspects’ is that slow burner that at a first glance is a slow and almost boring film — but that after a while expands into this cleverly written thriller that takes unexpected turns. It’s a story of much complexity with a lot of dialogue.

This, in combination with the big lack of character depth might seem like a big flaw, but the 3rd act explains a lot of this and it does weigh more than the film’s cons — for some people. I loved the ending but found most of the 1st and 2nd act slow and uneventful.

The third act made the whole flick superbly better, mostly thanks to the film’s mysterious antagonist, the powerful direction by Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey's performance as the character 'Verbal'.

It’s one great and dramatic thriller, but that might be a bit too slow for my taste.