Product Description

Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, Pete PostlethwaiteDirector: Bryan Singer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7733 in DVD
• Brand: Blu-ray Cult Movies
• Released on: 2008-01-01
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 106 minutes

Synopsis
Director Bryan Singer's labyrinthine crime drama centers on five career criminals (played by Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, and Stephen Baldwin) who meet after being rounded up for a standard police line-up. Upon their release, the men band together to pull off an intricate heist involving $3 million worth of emeralds. Their success brings them to the attention of the enigmatic Keyser Soze, an unseen, nefarious, and mythic underworld crime figure who coerces them into pulling off an important and highly dangerous job. The scenes that follow make THE USUAL SUSPECTS one of the most fascinating crime thrillers in cinema history. Working from the Oscar-winning screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Singer adroitly tells the complex story through flashbacks, cross-cutting, and voice-over narration. Such nimble handling of the intricacies of the nonlinear narrative adds to the suspense, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats until the clever, satisfying finale. Singer's expertise in the technical aspects of filmmaking--his use of a dioptic filter to keep two close-up faces in focus, as well as his inventive use of six-frame step printing--helped him earn his reputation as a visually impressive and stylish director. Filled with excellent performances from veteran actors (Kevin Spacey won his first Academy Award for his breakthrough role as Verbal Kint), THE USUAL SUSPECTS placed Singer squarely on the cinematic map.

Customer Reviews

Who Is Keyser Söze?
I didn't know what to expect from The Usual Suspects, I wasn't sure if this was a candid look at policing, or whether, it was just some comedy, but thankfully, it was a conscience look at crime, and the labyrinth built by criminals to avoid jail, and this, Bryan Singer's second film is a real eye-opener.

it all starts with a bunch of criminals, Stephen Baldwin as Michael McManus, Gabriel Byrne as Dean Keaton; Benicio Del Toro as Fred Fenster, Kevin Pollak as Todd Hockney and Kevin Spacey as Roger 'Verbal' Kint - all being in a line up, being questioned about a boat, which police suspect was a drugs mule, and some dead people were found, so the cops need to find the suspects; this is the long, dark, and twisty story about their lives, why they're here, and who is this mystery man, Keyser Soze?

I like this film, but you have to be patient with it; it's not going to just reveal itself to you; you have to sit through quite a lot of dialogue and footage to really get to grips with it. It has a lot of playback as it's not easy to work out the story; but it's worthwhile once you understand it, and I can see why this has been in the top 100 movie lists in newspapers. All 5 guys are great in this, and play their roles well, especially Kevin Spacey as Verbal, a guy who never stops talking, and walks with a limp, he really is the pinnacle of the movie.

This Blu-Ray is an outrage to be honest with you; it's got a VC-1 video codec running at around 20MB/s. This is unacceptable especially with the quality of the movie. The transfer isn't bad for a film that was filmed on film, and the audio isn't bad either - but it's not a DTS Master either, which really annoyed me. There are no extras, or menus for that matter, though I did notice French subtitles if you scrolled through the options with the audio button on the remote, really this was disappointing for me, especially as this is a classic movie and highly considered.

Don't bother with this, it doesn't reflect the greatness of the movie. I'm not sure who this is for, fans won't like it as it offers nothing more than the 2 disk edition did, although the definition is higher, and the audio a touch better, this really isn't what the HD platform was made for, it's shoddy and I can only see this being re-released in a few years time with more extras, probably upscaled to 1080.

Avoid, get the 2 Disc Special Edition instead.

Thrilling Plot, Poor Upscale
"The Usual Suspects" is a film with an astonishing plot. To remain aware of what is going on, looking away from the screen for even a second is inadvisable. Despite the story line being saturated with information it is an enjoyable movie to watch. Due to the disjointed skipping between time lines, particularly in the beginning, it can be a little difficult to become immersed but I would say that it is worth the wait. As the plot unfolds it is increasingly captivating. What else made this film so exceptional is the cast performance. Kevin Spacey was stunning as Verbal Kint and he added a real depth to the character. The other criminals were also made particularly believable in the eyes of the audience by the actors, and Nolan was particularly easy to empathise with.

That being said, I was disappointed by the quality of the upscale. This is not what I would term 'high definition' by any stretch of imagination. The picture quality wasn't bad, but it lacked the distinctive sharpness and crystal clear nature of most blu-ray films and DVD to BR conversions. Also, the picture on the sleeve was reminiscent of that on a pirate copy- that is to say, dreadful.

Complaints aside, it was an entertaining film and well worth watching for anybody interrested in criminal thrillers.