The Usual Suspects Released: 1995 Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Louis Lombardi, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro review by Julia Marchese Its difficult now to separate Bryan Singer from his big time X-men flicks, but way ass back in time, Singer’s name was synonymous with one of the greatest crime mysteries of all time, The Usual Suspects. The cast consists of a terrific mish mash of brilliant talents, newcomers, and men for whom this film will be their only great role. Kevin Spacey, of course, had been around for years before this film, slogging his way through supporting characters, but this was his true breakout film. And what a breakout – Oscar anyone? As the crippled, introverted Verbal Kint, Spacey is so understated and wonderful, you need to watch the film again immediately after finishing it, just to savor his every move and line reading for a second time. The Usual Suspects was released almost 15 years ago and was such a tremendous hit film at the time. But it has been absorbed into popular culture so much that even watching it now, much of the film seems old hat. The film was the first in the series of “twist ending” films that flooded the market around 1995, which was both a good and a bad thing. Good, in that because we didn’t expect it and were blown away, bad, in that we did expect it from then on. It’s hard to separate the film from today’s standards and just watch it now with the innocence we did then. The film centers around Verbal, giving his statement to the police after a boat heist with his criminal friends has gone wrong, and everyone is dead. Verbal works backwards, taking us through the police roundup, the retaliation operation against the cops, and eventually through the explosion that kills all of his cohorts. The question is, of course, who is the mastermind behind it? This would be the worst movie in the world to give away too much, so I won’t. As a first breakout feature, this film is mind-blowingly masterful. It’s a shame that Singer has sold out and gone on to direct superhero blockbusters, because he’s so much better suited to character driven independents. The script, the cast, the directing – it doesn’t get much better than The Usual Suspects.