Brilliant movie. Review on Usual Suspects Movie

The Usual Suspects: Director: Bryan Singer Cast: Gabriel Byrne (Keaton) , Kevin Spacey( Verbal Klint), Stephen Baldwin(McMannus) , Kevin Pollak (Hockney), Benicio Del Toro (Fenster), Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite (Kobayashi), Giancarlo Esposito, Suzy Amis, Dan Hedaya Genre: Action with a twist.

Verdict: contemporary classic This is not the first Bryan Singer movie I have watched, Both X Men and X men 2 have been directed by him apart from other movies like Apt Pupil and even Superman Returns.

At the outset, the film seemed to have no ?leading? actors apart from Kevin Spacey(Verbal Klint), although in the original credits etc, he was not given the due importance - the reason for this of course became clear in the end.

Speaking of Kevin Spacey, he has given an outstanding performance as a quirky, talkative, club footed criminal, small-timer with a desperate need to see himself in the big league. This makes him an ?unreliable narrator? who one presumes is twisting the course of events to draw more attention to himself, the ending in that sense does come as a huge surprise, not because the reliability of the narration has gained any, but because the unreliability is reaffirmed at a scale never imagined before.

The movie moves backwards and forwards in time constantly- the past which draws the events that led up to the crime. The chronology has three center points. The present (The inquisition of Spacey after the blow up of a vessel at the pier) The past (Where the vessel is attacked and burned down) The flashback to the past ( where the 5 usual suspects unite at prison one night on the suspicion of a hijacking.. and the events that lead to the burning of the vessel.

Since the narration progresses paralelly from both the ?past? points towards the present, it is an interrupted and jerky storyline, forcing the audience to pay close attention to details which do not make sense until the end. While there is incoherence (Built in for effect) in the story-line, Spacey?s narration holds the audience?s attention from the very beginning? one of his best roles ever.

Gabriel Bryne and the others also deliver an impressive performance. Verdict:during the course of the movie, right upto the last 15 minutes, the movie appears to be undistinguished and average but the ending is outstanding and then suddenly all the aspects that did not fall in place earlier on, seem to point out the clues you missed? Best seen twice.