The Usual Suspects (1995)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Drama/Action

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro,Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollack, Peter Postlethwaite

Making a good murder mystery is easy and difficult. The formula for it is quite simple, a nice crooked story and an ending that would blow your mind away. It is the execution that makes this genre a hit or a miss. Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Spacey) gets pulled up by the police after being found as one of the two only survivors post a massive shootout on a ship. The other individual being a Hungarian who can't speak English, Verbal is made to spill the beans on what happened. After Verbal does not reveal any significant information and being backed by powerful individuals, U.S Customs Special Agent Dave Kujan (Palminteri) insists on interrogating him and promises to make him talk. Verbal explains how it all began in New York when the police rounded up Dean Keaton (Byrne), a corrupt former police officer, Michael McManus (Baldwin), a professional thief, Fred Fenster (del Toro), McManus' partner, Todd Hockney (Pollack) a hijacker and Verbal himself for a stolen gun shipment from a truck. The five became accomplices and decide to get even with the cops and also accept jobs from one of McManus' accomplice. One thing leads to the other but there is just one question on every ones mind. Who is Keyser Soze, where is he, what does he look like and what does he do? The movie is an example of a movie being brilliant, simple but yet not too overtly simplified. It's not the kind of movie that you would get lost or distracted too easily, it is light and gripping but at the same time requires you to concentrate and pay attention to every detail. This movie has to go down as one of the best murder mysteries ever and no matter what your movie preference is, you can never go wrong with this one.

Thumbs up: A good twisted tale with a stunning climax

Thumbs down: Maybe some dark Quentin Tarantino comedy would've been the icing on the cake

Rating: 8.9/10