By Thomas Broome-Jones
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist"
I always found it weird that Bryan Singer directed The Usual Suspects, not because I dislike him as a director, just because it's one of my favourite films ever and I always think of Singer as "that guy who directed X-Men". This week's QOTW is a review of a highly intelligently made film with a multi-layered plot and an unforgettable Oscar-winning performance from Kevin Spacey. This film is so good that even Stephen Baldwin wasn't annoying in it.
The complexity of the film's plot is pretty hard to explain without giving away anything so all I'll say is that Kevin Spacey plays Verbal Kint, a con-man with cerebral palsy who is recounting a story of a crime to a police detective that he was witness to. Sounds pretty simple but when you watch it you realize that it's anything but that. The intricacies on the incredible screenplay by Christopher McQaurrie make this a film where you will constantly be guessing, choosing who to believe and by the end you'll just want to go back and watch it all over again to clarify some points that would be impossible to notice the first time around.
The excellent ensemble cast all deliver characters with their own little quirks, aside from Spacey, Benicio Del Toro stands out especially as Fenster. An ethnically ambiguous man who the other characters are constantly asking to repeat himself as his accent is so wonderfully ridiculous that he's virtually impossible to understand. Following this unlikely team in a story told through flashbacks there will be more and more characters added to the story, giving it more and more layers of sophisticated narrative structure.
I'm not going to talk any further as this film is far too fragile to talk about without spoilers and I make a habit out of avoiding the "s" word in my reviews. All I can say is that the story is told with such punchy dialogue and in such an accessible way that your interests will be vested. Combine that with an electrifying performance from Kevin Spacey which netted him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and you've got a winning formula. I have no more to say about it because I don't want to ruin it for you, simply put, watch this film, it's incredible.
Thomas Broome-Jones is on Twitter, you can follow him @TBroomey.
The complexity of the film's plot is pretty hard to explain without giving away anything so all I'll say is that Kevin Spacey plays Verbal Kint, a con-man with cerebral palsy who is recounting a story of a crime to a police detective that he was witness to. Sounds pretty simple but when you watch it you realize that it's anything but that. The intricacies on the incredible screenplay by Christopher McQaurrie make this a film where you will constantly be guessing, choosing who to believe and by the end you'll just want to go back and watch it all over again to clarify some points that would be impossible to notice the first time around.The excellent ensemble cast all deliver characters with their own little quirks, aside from Spacey, Benicio Del Toro stands out especially as Fenster. An ethnically ambiguous man who the other characters are constantly asking to repeat himself as his accent is so wonderfully ridiculous that he's virtually impossible to understand. Following this unlikely team in a story told through flashbacks there will be more and more characters added to the story, giving it more and more layers of sophisticated narrative structure.
I'm not going to talk any further as this film is far too fragile to talk about without spoilers and I make a habit out of avoiding the "s" word in my reviews. All I can say is that the story is told with such punchy dialogue and in such an accessible way that your interests will be vested. Combine that with an electrifying performance from Kevin Spacey which netted him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and you've got a winning formula. I have no more to say about it because I don't want to ruin it for you, simply put, watch this film, it's incredible.
Thomas Broome-Jones is on Twitter, you can follow him @TBroomey.
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