note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room

The Usual Suspects is the film that brought X-Men and Valkyrie director Bryan Singer to prominence. It's a neo noir that features an impressive, and twisty, plot that's been likened to the complex stories written by 1950s authors Dashiel Hammet and Raymond Chandler. It won Kevin Spacey an Academy Award for his performance, and the screenplay also won an Oscar.

The film opens as Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) is on a boat that's aflame. He is approached by a man noted to be Keyser Soze, a mysterious, phantom-like individual that nobody can identity. He seemingly murders Keaton, and then FBI Agent Jack Baer (Giancarlo Esposito) and U.S. Customs special agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) come to L.A. to find out quite what on Earth is happening.

The only healthy survivor that they can find from the boat disaster is Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), a crippled man who has a rather dry sense of humour and doesn't so much appreciate being interrogated. The other survivor merely talks from his hospital bed of the legend that is Keyser Soze, as the cops try to work out who he is and what he has to do with this boat debacle.

Meanwhile, the film cuts to six weeks prior as Kint explains his story to the cops. Here we meet Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), a former police officer who was corrupt, Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), a brilliant shooter, Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), McManus' partner who hilariously speaks in quite possibly the worst level of English ever, Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), a hijacker who hates McManus, and of course Verbal, a con artist who is crippled also.

A smart and slick thriller that truly requires multiple viewings to fully understand. The plot complicated, the tension constant, and with a mind-blowing twist that you'll kick yourself for not guessing, this is a great little crime thriller.