The Usual Suspects

Starring: Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollack, Kevin Spacey, Benicio Del Toro

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Rating: Didn't Like It

This movie is what we call a "cult classic".  That is, it's a film that has a devout following of people but does not attract mass audiences.  Franchises such as Harry Potter, Star Trek, Batman, etc. all have very specific groups of followers that are more immersed in the stories than others, but they still attract large numbers of casual viewers as well.  Other films that have a cult following; The Blues Brothers, A Clockwork Orange, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  With that said...

I can totally see why there are specific audiences that really enjoy this film, but I honestly didn't care for it much.  It wasn't any one specific thing that turned me away from it.  It's really an OK movie as far as all the different puzzle pieces are put together; however, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and I thought it was a strange mix of action and thriller.  

First, casting was actually pretty good.  I'm a huge fan of Spacey's, and he pulls off the character's disabilities perfectly.  Del Toro was a little hard to understand any time he spoke, but portrayed his character well.  Pollack was spot on as always.  Byrne was the cool head, very convincingly.  I was most surprised by Baldwin.  Usually, if you get less than Alec out of the Baldwin clan, in my opinion, you don't get the best performance, but I thought Stephen did a pretty good job.  

All the secondary characters were played by pretty well known actors as well (i.e. Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Dan Hedaya).  You may not recognize them by name, but you would by face.  This really was a pretty strong cast all around.  

Second, the story was meant to be very twisty and curvy.  I'm not one of those people that claims to have figured out the Sixth Sense before it was over (and if you are you're lying).  That is to say, I don't usually get the twist in a movie that's done well.  I figured this one out about forty-five minutes from the end credits.  That's not to say that holds negative points against the film, but I don't think it was as loopy as Singer intended it to be.  

Finally, I usually like the telling of a story in reverse, but it didn't work for me very well in this instance.  I don't know what it was.  I just didn't like it.  There were a few times when I wasn't sure how a small piece of the movie fit in to the timeline.  It took a couple seconds to figure out if this was present or future.  

All in all, I can definitely see why some people cling to this movie so dearly.  Myself, I didn't find it to be the magnificent work that its devoted fans do.  With that in mind, I think it's one you'll definitely have to watch and make a decision for yourself.