I remember seeing The
Usual Suspects when it was first released in 1995. It begins in a kind of
film noir setting, the music befitting the line of fire reaching across a boat
to an explosion. I didn’t remember all the details of the story before watching
it again for the Challenge, just the aha moments.
This time around, I can’t say I liked it any better. The aha
moments were still there, but it grew tiresome with the explosions, gunfire,
death and crime.
Actors who appear in this film went on to bigger and better
films, especially for Kevin Spacey and Benecio del Toro.
Basically, you get five men in a lineup, supposedly randomly
thrown together in a jail cell, where they plot their next big job. An unlikely
grouping, there is Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey), a man with cerebral palsy
that others think is stupid, Fred Fenster (Benecio del Toro), Michael McManus
(Stephen Baldwin; whatever happened to him?), Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), and
Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollack).
Verbal gets interrogated by a couple of police officers, Jeff
Rabin (Dan Hedaya) and Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) about an incident, and the
story unfolds. Verbal narrates throughout the film, a device that doesn’t always
work in a good film, but it does here.
Kevin Spacey won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for
his performance. I think the reason this screenplay won at the Academy Awards
for Best Original Screenplay is because it had so many twists and turns to the
plot. Just when you think you know what’s going on, another piece of
information arises from the police or a victim, or from Verbal himself. And
there’s this man named Keyser Soze who comes up.
Who is Keyser Soze? You will wonder about this. Is he like
the La Llorona legend in New Mexico? Kids are told scary bedtime stories about someone
you don’t want to cross or you’ll have a stroke of misfortune. Someone who
doesn’t really exist, just a phantom to give you nightmares.
Or if he really does exist, he is one bad dude and you still
don’t want to cross paths with him.
This film received a lot of prestigious nominations for the
screenwriter, Christopher McQuarrie, and included his winning an Academy Award
for Best Original Screenplay. The Usual
Suspects is rated R for violence and a substantial amount of strong
language.
Out of the films I’ve reviewed so far, I don’t recommend it.
I’ll give you a list at the end of my 26 posts of what I do and don’t recommend
for your edification.
I’m just tired of violent films with the f-word thrown
around like it’s part of our language. Tired of gun battles and casual
murdering of people, as bad as they might be. We need more screenplays that
tell good stories about more realistic situations we may encounter, not like
these criminals that most of us aren’t.
Did you see The Usual
Suspects, and what did you think of it?
