Following a wavefront explosion, in San Pedro Harbor leaving few survivors, an eye-witness and participant tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat.
Metaphysical mumbo-jumbo? Of course -- but the thrill of The Usual Suspects is that, after years of movie demythologising, it re-mythologises the crime movie.
Singer, like Tarantino, is less into mining new film themes than in re-inventing old ones. And the way he does so shows full well that there is still a bit of life in the old mob movie yet.
If the pleasures of The Usual Suspects are the more superficial ones of ingenuity and style, those are abundantly available. The twists and turns of the plot are an awful lot of fun, while the ending is genuinely satisfying and surprising.
Give director Bryan Singer credit for providing a plot that is not resolved by an exchange of gunfire, but don't expect the movie's glib punchline to stay with you for very long.
I didn't believe this story for a minute, even in movie terms -- though it's less offensive than a piece of junk like Apt Pupil, Singer's subsequent feature.
It's a nerve-shredding suspense movie about corruption, a bravura actor's show full of deliciously twisted cops and robbers, and a complex riddle packed with unexpected turns.
The most attuned devotee of crime mystery will be hard-pressed to guess the outcome of this stylish thriller. It is riddled with machine-gun dialogue and kinky implications at every turn.
It stands up brilliantly to repeat viewing, to the extent that you may never fully solve the riddle. But don't let that put you off; it's the ultimate whodunit.
