Is first and foremost a masterful screenplay- won the Oscar
Certainly has noir elements in the film- some from 1949’s D.O.A which I love (flashback structure of course, seedy elements (asphalt jungle group of criminals) – we have the brilliant dueling narrative structure of the flashback/interrogation
Singer was 27 when he directed it—He’d never really fulfill the promise of this debut- both Singer and his composer here John Ottman struck gold here
Very large talented cast. Yes the 5 in the lineup are impressive (Baldwin is amazing and Kevin Spacey is a revelation) but we have Dan Hedeya, Giancarlo Esposito, Pete Postlethwaite and Chazz Palminteri as well. The back and forth with Chazz and Spacey is particularly well done
Red herrings galore- Singer’s camera lingers on a pile of ropes with nothing behind it
The editing montage makes it looks like it’s keaton (Gabriel Byrne) when it isn’t. I love it all. The coffee cup breaking realization shot and finale (“greatest trick the devil ever played” and “what if you miss trying to shoot the devil in the back”) are sublime
Such entertaining denseness in the plot
A big part of what makes the narrative work is the creation of Keyser Söze—such reverence for a character that doesn’t exist
Just saw this the second time today. I thought it would get worse because I already knew the twist, but it actually didn’t get worse, and I was positively surprised for that certain fact. The performances and characters were still great, the script was tight and great, a solid mood, superior soundtrack and funny moments to fool you into thinking it wouldn’t get tense. Filled with one liners that are great. Also, the performance of Palminteri in my eyes got much better during the rewatch. I actually thought his performance was pretty mediocre the first time I watched the film, but now at the second time around I actually noticed how well he holds against Spacey in their shared scenes.
Also, I noticed a couple of details that I didn’t notice the first time around;
-During the scene when Rabin brings Kint and Kujan some coffee and just before Kint starts to tell the story to Kujan, the first time a person’s watching the film he/she might think that Kint watches up to Kujan; but he is actually watching to the bottom of Kujan’s coffee cup, and he invents a key point to his story: the name Kobayashi from the cup’s bottom.
¨
-During the grand heist at the ship at around 1 hour and 24 minute mark we see the jacket and the hat that Söze wears when he shoots Keaton; the hat and the jacket are hanged up at a wall in a cabin where the person who presumably knows Söze’s identity is hiding; I actually missed the hat and the jacket at the wall the first time I saw the film, and somebody else who’s watching the film for the first time and notices the hat and the jacket might think about a minute later that McManus is Söze, before he sees the knife at the upper back of McManus; after that the viewer might think that Keaton is Söze.
This might sound stupid and far-fetched, but anyways; I actually thought that the use of colors green and red in the film resembled the use of green and red in Hitchcock’s Vertigo; at the parking hall heist scene the hall’s background is filled with reflective green lightning, and the first thing that popped into my mind immediately was: Vertigo and it’s masterful use of green color.
About 10 minutes after the parking hall heist scene when the crew is meeting with Kobayashi in a room, I noticed the use of red color on the room’s walls and the use of green color at the sofa, curtains, and the ceiling lights light reflection (or whatever it is called). Again, it made me think of Vertigo.
After those scenes I actually noticed that in the many following scenes there was use of green color in either lighting or in backgrounds etc.
-About the halfway of 1:07 just before the gang threatens Kobayashi, Kint and Keaton are cutting out the electricity from the elevator, there’s again a reflection of green lighting in the background of the room.
-Just before the heist at the harbour before the hit there is a green structure behind Kint, and it’s green colour is just like from Vertigo
-At the boat heist around 1:22 mark there is a red light reflected in Keaton’s upper body, and just before there is a slight use of green inside the boat.
-Red lighting again at 1:24 mark
-Red lighting again just before 1:25:00 mark
-Reflection of red lighting again at the boats hallway between 1:25:00-1:26:00 mark
-The boats engines (or something like that) during the 1:26:45-1:27:30 mark are painted in Vertigo like green
-At 1:27:40 mark there’s a large reflection of red lighting inside the boat
-Vertigo like red lighting reflected at tires etc. at the boat’s dock when viewer sees Kint running to hide behind
—-
-The films visuals felt pretty mediocre before the 45-minute mark, but after that we get many visual stunners in many scenes; the parking hall heist scene, the camera movement at the hallway of the building where the gang is threatening Kobayashi, the use of colours green and red, and blocking with structures inside the boat for example.
-A MS. Not leaning torwards HR or MP. A mid end MS
Sorry for possible heavy text and bad english (and possible overusing of the word “the”) since english is not my native language
Would you consider Bryan Singer to be a one hit wonder?
I have not seen any of his other films nor have I ever heard much about them.
The Usual Suspects is endlessly watchable even with knowing the twists. The pacing is key, as the narrative just blasts forward even with all the flashbacks. It just never lets up, it also is hilarious at times balancing out the dark atmosphere.
@James Trapp- I would, but X-Men and X2: X-Men United are not bad movies. The 2006 Superman Returns is not too shabby either. So Singer may not be a one hit wonder on the level of Laughton as a director- but still. Nothing close to Usual Suspects
Just saw this the second time today. I thought it would get worse because I already knew the twist, but it actually didn’t get worse, and I was positively surprised for that certain fact. The performances and characters were still great, the script was tight and great, a solid mood, superior soundtrack and funny moments to fool you into thinking it wouldn’t get tense. Filled with one liners that are great. Also, the performance of Palminteri in my eyes got much better during the rewatch. I actually thought his performance was pretty mediocre the first time I watched the film, but now at the second time around I actually noticed how well he holds against Spacey in their shared scenes.
Also, I noticed a couple of details that I didn’t notice the first time around;
-During the scene when Rabin brings Kint and Kujan some coffee and just before Kint starts to tell the story to Kujan, the first time a person’s watching the film he/she might think that Kint watches up to Kujan; but he is actually watching to the bottom of Kujan’s coffee cup, and he invents a key point to his story: the name Kobayashi from the cup’s bottom.
¨
-During the grand heist at the ship at around 1 hour and 24 minute mark we see the jacket and the hat that Söze wears when he shoots Keaton; the hat and the jacket are hanged up at a wall in a cabin where the person who presumably knows Söze’s identity is hiding; I actually missed the hat and the jacket at the wall the first time I saw the film, and somebody else who’s watching the film for the first time and notices the hat and the jacket might think about a minute later that McManus is Söze, before he sees the knife at the upper back of McManus; after that the viewer might think that Keaton is Söze.
This might sound stupid and far-fetched, but anyways; I actually thought that the use of colors green and red in the film resembled the use of green and red in Hitchcock’s Vertigo; at the parking hall heist scene the hall’s background is filled with reflective green lightning, and the first thing that popped into my mind immediately was: Vertigo and it’s masterful use of green color.
About 10 minutes after the parking hall heist scene when the crew is meeting with Kobayashi in a room, I noticed the use of red color on the room’s walls and the use of green color at the sofa, curtains, and the ceiling lights light reflection (or whatever it is called). Again, it made me think of Vertigo.
After those scenes I actually noticed that in the many following scenes there was use of green color in either lighting or in backgrounds etc.
-About the halfway of 1:07 just before the gang threatens Kobayashi, Kint and Keaton are cutting out the electricity from the elevator, there’s again a reflection of green lighting in the background of the room.
-Just before the heist at the harbour before the hit there is a green structure behind Kint, and it’s green colour is just like from Vertigo
-At the boat heist around 1:22 mark there is a red light reflected in Keaton’s upper body, and just before there is a slight use of green inside the boat.
-Red lighting again at 1:24 mark
-Red lighting again just before 1:25:00 mark
-Reflection of red lighting again at the boats hallway between 1:25:00-1:26:00 mark
-The boats engines (or something like that) during the 1:26:45-1:27:30 mark are painted in Vertigo like green
-At 1:27:40 mark there’s a large reflection of red lighting inside the boat
-Vertigo like red lighting reflected at tires etc. at the boat’s dock when viewer sees Kint running to hide behind
—-
-The films visuals felt pretty mediocre before the 45-minute mark, but after that we get many visual stunners in many scenes; the parking hall heist scene, the camera movement at the hallway of the building where the gang is threatening Kobayashi, the use of colours green and red, and blocking with structures inside the boat for example.
-A MS. Not leaning torwards HR or MP. A mid end MS
Sorry for possible heavy text and bad english (and possible overusing of the word “the”) since english is not my native language
@RK- Thank you for sharing this
Would you consider Bryan Singer to be a one hit wonder?
I have not seen any of his other films nor have I ever heard much about them.
The Usual Suspects is endlessly watchable even with knowing the twists. The pacing is key, as the narrative just blasts forward even with all the flashbacks. It just never lets up, it also is hilarious at times balancing out the dark atmosphere.
@James Trapp- I would, but X-Men and X2: X-Men United are not bad movies. The 2006 Superman Returns is not too shabby either. So Singer may not be a one hit wonder on the level of Laughton as a director- but still. Nothing close to Usual Suspects