Review of The Usual Suspects (1995) by Jesse O — 11 Feb 2014

It's unfortunate that years before I finally saw this movie last night, even though I've had it on DVD for a while now as well, I already knew who Keyser Soze was. So, easily, the most important part of the film was spoiled to me.

And I can pretty much guarantee that knowing who Keyser was heavily affected the score I ended up giving the movie. Don't get me wrong, I still think the movie is absolutely incredible, but going in blind is definitely the best way to go if you want the reveal to have the most impact possible.

Having said that, knowing what happened, opened my eyes into viewing the film in a completely different manner. Because of that, I focused on the way the film reaches the conclusion of who Keyser Soze really is and what his plan was, rather than on the fact that I already knew who it was.

And I must say that the way the film gets to its climax is absolutely masterful. A tip of the hat to the screenwriter, Christopher McQuarrie, the editors and Bryan Singer for crafting such an intriguing and compelling film.

This is a film that starts off with a very simple concept, 5 criminals come together to pull a series of heists, they're contacted by Keyser Soze's lawyer, Mr. Kobayashi, as all 5 of the criminals have, unknowingly, stolen from Mr.

Soze. Keyser provides the 5 men with a chance to repay their debt if they do one last job for him. This is where the movie really gets going, because there's film throws on so many layers of betrayal and deceit that you know that you pretty much can't trust anybody in this film.

The film, since it's handled so expertly, isn't that hard to follow at all considering how much is actually going on story-wise. There's so much information that the film wants to get out that it's very surprising, in a good way, to see that the film doesn't become confusing or hard to follow.

That's also a credit to the editing of the film. Of course the biggest, and most important, part of the film centers around the mystery of who is Keyser Soze. I'll try my hardest not to spoil the film, as that'll take out some of the fun out of it, but the handling of this character was absolute genius.

It's really hard to distinguish what's real and what's fake about Keyser. Perhaps he wasn't even as bad as some people believed he was, it's just that the the stories involving him kept getting more and more exaggerated.

It seems, to me, that his reputation preceded him. Maybe he even spread these lies around in order to make sure that no one fucked with him. I believe there's a hint of truth to Keyser's backstory.

Not all of it, but some of it. Everything else was spread around in order to create fear among his enemies. Of course, that's all a theory in my mind. Because if it was true, why would the Hungarians and the Argentinians have that deal that the 5 criminals were sent to break up.

And the way that Keyser manipulates every little thing, no matter how small, and person in order to get what he wants was, again, a stroke of genius. Everything goes pretty much exactly as Keyser intended and it's an absolutely joy to watch.

That's part of the reason I enjoyed the film so much. The fact that I knew who Keyser Soze was, it led me to pay attentions to the smaller details and seeing how everybody was pretty much manipulated by this man.

It'd be embarrassing if it was real. The acting is strong, and Kevin Spacey absolutely kills it here. I think that's about all I'm going to say on the acting because it, again, might spoil the film for some and I don't want that.

Even if the film is almost 20 years old, I don't want to anybody who might be seeing it for the first time. With that said, I absolutely this movie for completely different reasons than I would've had it not been spoiled for me.

It's still an incredible film. Don't be fooled by the fact that it starts off like a simple heist film. Trust me when I say it's anything but a typical heist film. There's twists and turns that'd make M.

Night Shyamalan shit in his pants.