DVD Reviews

Usual Suspects [Blu-ray Book] – Blu-ray Review

By Dana Rae Jul 18, 2011, 18:35 GMT

$Winner of two 1995 Academy Awards(r), including Best Original Screenplay, this masterful, atmospheric film noir enraptured audiences with its complex and riveting storyline, gritty, tour-de-force performances (including an Oscar(r)-winning* turn by Kevin Spacey) and a climax that is truly deserving of the word stunning. Also starring Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak and Pete Postlethwaite, this \'thoroughly engrossing film (HBO) is so gripping and diabolically clever (The Wall$

Winner of two 1995 Academy Awards(r), including Best Original Screenplay, this masterful, atmospheric film noir enraptured audiences with its complex and riveting storyline, gritty, tour-de-force performances (including an Oscar(r)-winning* turn by Kevin Spacey) and a climax that is truly deserving of the word stunning. Also starring Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak and Pete Postlethwaite, this \'thoroughly engrossing film (HBO) is so gripping and diabolically clever (The Wall ...more

Bryan Singer’s 1995 mega break out hit, The Usual Suspects, comes to Blu-ray in a Blu-ray book. Fans will want this as it is beautifully packaged with glossy pictures, highlights, and interesting trivia about the movie.

The premise of the movie is that five known criminals are arrested and brought together for questioning by the police. These are: Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), and Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint (Kevin Spacey).

These are the Usual Suspects. As none of them are found guilty, they plan a revenge operation against the police for the mocking line-up and questioning. The operation is a success, but then the influence of a mysterious and ominous character, Keyser Söze, is felt. It becomes clear that each one of them has wronged this Söze at some point and payback is inherent.

As an example of the trivia found in the Blu-ray book, the movie is titled from a quote in Casablanca, “Round up the usual suspects”. In the opening sequence, a boat has been destroyed and a $91 million cocaine heist has gone wrong and almost all that were involved are dead.

In the aftermath, the only survivors are a Hungarian gangster that cannot speak English and Verbal. The key to this mystery lies with Verbal’s twisted, long-winded story. Beginning with five career criminals in a seemingly random police lineup, the story that Verbal weaves mesmerizes the US customs agent, played by Chaz Palminteri. His story also engrosses us, the audience.

I remember watching this movie in the theater and leaning forward in my seat as Verbal spun his yarn.

The outspoken, crippled Verbal, played brilliantly by Kevin Spacey in his Oscar winning supporting role, tells the story of a man named Keyser Soze. Just to let you know the influence of Keyser Soze outside of this movie, my husband and I still refer to certain things as ‘Keyser Soze’, the ultimate evil. The devil has nothing on Keyser Soze. The name has elapsed into popular culture with a hint of a shiver.

The real question throughout the movie becomes: Just who is Keyser Soze? Verbal keeps everyone spell-bound as he expands on the mystery. He tells a chilling story of Keyser Soze’s marriage. He had two children once, and it ended badly, for his wife and his children.

Apparently a couple of Soze’s criminal constituents thought they could send him a message by raping his wife. They made the children watch. Soze comes home to find his wife raped and his children hysterical and the rapists there, in his house, threatening him. He coldly shoots his wife in the head and shoots his children, also. He then shoots one of the assailants but he allows one to live.

He tells that man to go and spread the word about Keyser Soze and what happened to his wife and children and what will happen to anyone who crosses him ever again. The message therein is that if Keyser Soze would coldly kill his wife and two small children, what would he do to you?

The film is a noir masterpiece, and if you haven’t seen it, even if you are not a fan of the genre, the ending will make you sit up and gasp. It is that good.

For fans of the movie, the Blu-ray book that the film is well worth the money. This release has no other special features except to be cased in the book, but it would be a definite addition to a collection and is sure to be a collectable.

This edition comes highly recommended, even though it is light on special features, the Blu-ray makes up for that.