The Usual Suspects (1995)

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie

A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begun when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup.

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The Usual Suspects is a movie I've been meaning to watch since forever. My dad actually owns the DVD, but sometimes you have to rent a movie to actually see it - because you've paid for it and it would suck if you'd basically lose money and not see it.

I didn't know much about The Usual Suspects. Story-wise I only knew that picture of the line up. I had avoided the spoilers almost perfectly. Just almost? I did know about the twist. I didn't know what it was, I just knew there was going to be a huge fucking twist. Also I had seen that one Saturday Night Live sketch, which kind of gives something away. I'm going to link it at the end of the post. Even though I kind of knew something about the ending, I didn't know the story, and I didn't know how to get to the ending and what the ending would actually mean in the story, because a SNL sketch doesn't exactly explain the reference.

It's hard to get in the right mood with the movie. There's no hook before the opening credits, you just have to wait until they are over or maybe fast forward through them. They offer nothing except John Ottman's music, which is of course decent, but not any different from typical movie music. But when the movie begun, it just begun. It was a bit fast, unclear. What is happening, who are these people, oh now we're at now... When they start questioning Verbal it becomes clearer. Still flashbacks are a hard way to tell the story - they are very quick and the audience can feel like something was left out, except I think this is exactly what McQuarrie might've been after. 

But once you get used to the pace and the style of story telling, the movie turns into a very exciting thriller. 

I guess the only problem in watching this movie over 20 years later is that it's now easier to guess the big mother-fucking twist. It might be because of a certain actor, it might be because this kind of twist is now more common, or it's just the evolution of cinema. But at one point while watching this movie it all clicked together. Of course the SNL sketch helped, and so did that one scene from the first Scary Movie - which is something I haven't seen in ages but it just came to me and I realised that's where it's from!

But figuring out a twist isn't exactly bad, you can also feel super victorious.

All in all, The Usual Suspects is a good thriller, a bit slow but the end makes it so much better. It has definitely aged well. But after seeing it once I don't feel like watching it again any time soon. It might be like some other movies with major twist: once you know it, you can watch it maybe once more to like see it from the new perspective, but that's it. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

Here's the SNL sketch I mentioned. I'd warn you to not spoil yourself if you haven't seen the movie but hey, would you listen?