The Usual Suspects (1995)

Who is Keyser Soze? Now you may be wondering, “What are you talking about?” Well, let me break it down for you. 5 felons who were once convicted and did time for their crimes are now being forced into a line-up by the police because they were suspected for a truck hijacking. One-by-one the police found nothing on their hands and soon the criminals were let go. What they didn’t know is how their crimes would lead them to all be the victims of a man so malicious, that not even the FBI would’ve been able to track him down.

The Usual Suspects, released in 1995 is a Thriller/Crime film directed by Bryan Singer, who is also the director of the famous X-Men Series. Within the intro of the film, we are presented with a scene taken “last night” in San Pedro, California. A silent ship that soon erupts into an explosion and is now being engulfed in flames. We soon get our protagonist of the story, Detective Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) who wants to know who did it and why they did it. Leading to the voice over from a man named Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), as he tells the story of what had happened on that ship. 

I never enjoyed watching films that centered around crime but, The Usual Suspects was possibly the best film I had ever watched involving crime. Not only did it win an award for “Best Action Film” in 1996, there are several wonderful actors that have played their part beautifully in the film, Kevin Spacey (known as Verbal Kint in the film) for starters, won an award for “Best Supporting Male Actor”. Not to forget the film was entirely told from Kevin Spacey’s perspective, making the film more entertaining as we are constantly led on a cat and mouse chase between Chazz and Kevin. 

With the film being rated R, I personally think it’s not as bad as other rated R films I have seen. Even though there are scenes that involve crude, if not explicit topics, I suggest still giving the film a watch, and let's face it, The Usual Suspects is one of the more well-known 1990s films. But, if you have not watched it, and are itching for something new to add to your growing watch-list, I suggest giving The Usual Suspects a try! Who knows, maybe you might find it interesting and it’ll have your heart racing as you are constantly led through many plot-twists and breath-stopping moments. Maybe you might even find out who Keyser Soze is, is it your Mom? Dad? Neighbors Dog? That’s up to you to decide.