The Usual Suspects is one of a bunch of movies, like The Sixth Sense, better known for its "twist" than anything else. But just as is the case with The Sixth Sense, once you take away said twist, there's not a whole lot left to get excited away. Indeed, the image of Kevin Spacey limping down the street at the very end of the movie only to suddenly start walking properly has become largely iconic. But is the rest of the movie as good as we think it is? There are wonderful performances, that's true, the script is frequently witty, and some of the set-pieces are certainly thrilling. The problem here is that the director Bryan Singer misleads us to such an extent that even the final twist isn't really anywhere as clever as it thinks it is: after all, courtesy of Kevin Spacey's character, we've been shown things throughout that might never have happened. A good film? Yes. The 23rd best film ever? No.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
