You should know by now that I love crime movies. Whether it’d be a crime-drama, crime-thriller, crime-comedy, etc. There is just something about crime-based movies that I love. Maybe it is because I have never committed a crime and probably never will and the movies help me get some kind of weird satisfaction from it or something. Anyway, today we are taking a look at a crime movie that is being praised as one of the best.
Ladies and gentlemen, please step forward and say the line you’ve been given when told so… because we are taking a look at “The Usual Suspects”!
The story is about con man Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey) who is the sole survivor of a brutal and horrific gun battle on a boat/at a dock. He is brought in by the police and is being interrogated by US Customs officer Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri). As you may have guessed, the officer wants to know what the hell happened there. And not only does Kint tell him about what happened there, but he also tells about the events leading up to it starting with a random police lineup where he meets his fellow cast members (Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak). And at the same time as Kint is telling Kujan about the different situations there is an investigation going on that revolves around the mysterious killer “Keyser Söze”. And then plot twists, great heist things and other awesome things ensues… and that is kind of what makes this story so great. It has an unconventional way of telling itself. It is not straightforward, it is not without complexity, this story is fucking awesome!
The characters in this movie are fantastic in every aspect of the word. Not only well-acted, but also fantastically well-written. They are all entertaining to watch and they all fill their shoes perfectly. But by god, the biggest surprise in this movie was Stephen Baldwin. Take in mind that I have only seen him in that shit movie “BioDome”. But here he not only gives a really good performance but also turned out to pretty much be my favorite character. He is witty, he is smart, he got a great beard and just is perfect for the movie! Also, Kevin Spacey gives an Oscar worthy performance in this movie (Duh, of course he was Oscar worthy, he won an Oscar for the role).
The soundtrack by John Ottman (Who was also the editor for the movie) is just fantastic! Combining both subtle and pretty (I don’t wanna use this word, but I have to) epic orchestrations. The subtle parts were there when they needed to and the bigger parts were there when they needed to. And therefore it really worked.
Fun fact: The script for this movie was written by Christopher McQuarrie who later went on to direct 2012’s “Jack Reacher” and the upcoming “Mission Impossible 5”. I don’t know, I just thought it was kinda cool to see his name in the credits of this movie since I really liked “Jack Reacher”. Also if you didn’t know, this movie was directed by Bryan Singer who you may know from movies like “X-Men”, “X-men 2” and “X-men: Days of future Past”. Yeah, this guy has been around and kicked butt. I also have to mention that this movie is perfectly shot. I know I rarely say that about a movie that is not directed by David Fincher, but this time I can say it without any problems. It looks fantastic!
Time for the reception. For the most part, “The Usual Suspects” was well-received. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a score of 88% and of course with that score has been certified “Fresh”. On Metacritic this movie has a 77/100. Here comes the funny bit where I tell you about what Roger Ebert thought about it… he didn’t like this at all. He gave this movie 1,5/4 stars… I know, it’s kind of weird. Anyway, moving on from that! Let’s see here, on imdb.com this movie has a score of 8,7/10 and is ranked #23 on the “Top 250” list there. This movie also won 2 Oscars in the categories of Best Actor in a supporting role (Kevin Spacey) and Best screenplay, written directly for the screen (Christopher McQuarrie).
This movie got great performances, an interesting plot with cool twists, great music, perfectly shot and it made me like Stephen Baldwin. So time for my final score for this little movie. My final score for “The Usual Suspects” is a 9,70/10 which of course grants it the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.
“The Usual Suspects” is finally reviewed.
KEYSER SÖZE, KEYSER SÖZE, KEYSER SÖZE!
TheMarckoguy 