The Usual Suspects

Singer has an obvious grasp of craft, but it's far less clear whether he has anything to say about movies, violence, the world, or his place in the world.

An imaginative, entertaining crime mystery with plenty of nerve and vigor.

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.

In a season of fat blockbusters, a picture as brainy, bitter, and compact as this one comes as a shock and a treat.

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.

For many true movie fiends, noir is the key American movie type, and the most fun when it's done right. The Usual Suspects is done right.

The end of this movie doesn't justify the means as director Bryan Singer takes his audience on a cat and mouse chase that never finds its way.

...a perpetually engrossing endeavor that benefits from its myriad of above-average, inherently spellbinding attributes...

With one Internet to rule them all, it's hard for most folks to avoid cinematic spoilers of yore (whether it's the sled in Citizen Kane or the penis in The Crying Game), but even knowing the answer shouldn't spoil this film's myriad other pleasures.

An intricate doodle of no special importance. It’s all play, all illusion, all movie.