The greatest trick? …Convincing us there were extras.
by Kevin Gaussoin, Editor-in-Chief
Before The Sixth Sense and all the other twist ending films started flying out of Hollywood there one one film that started the whole movement: The Usual Suspects. An ensemble piece, the film stars Kevin Pollack (A Few Good Men, Red State), Stephen Baldwin (Threesome, Half-Baked), Gabriel Byrne (Cool World, The Man In The Iron Mask), Benecio del Toro (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Traffic), and Kevin Spacey (Se7en, American Beauty, Superman Returns) as a bunch of thugs caught in the wrong place at the wrong time… Or are they? Without spoiling anything, The Usual Suspects is a masterwork mystery crime drama about a bunch of puppets wondering just who is pulling their strings. If you have not seen it already, now is the time, as it doesn’t get any better than Blu-ray.
Video
With 1080p video, this version may be the sharpest we are ever going to bring home. Here we get to marvel at film in the mid-nineties and wonder how we ever got by without ubiquitous cell phones, Internet, and digital cameras.
Audio
This film gets a little score-heavy in a few spots, but don’t let that stop you, this is mostly about dialog peppered with a few scenes of gunfire and explosions.
Extras
The Usual Suspects first came out on Blu-ray about 3 years ago, but it received insults from consumers due to a complete lack of special features. This time it’s all different: You want Special Features on your Blu-ray? Well you get several pages of photos and lore about the film instead. No seriously. There are no special features on the disc, but it comes in a truly nice book package with a bunch of photos and info about the movie. I liked it, but I know a lot of people are going to be less than satisfied.
Overall
“The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.” This is a hard review to write, because you really don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. Just know this: if you have a Blu-ray player and the TV to support it—if you have every liked a mystery or a crime drama—you should really pick up this award winning film on Blu-ray. I know it doesn’t have special features on the disc, but the film really speaks for itself.
ComicsOnline gives The Usual Suspects 4 out of 5 suckers in a lineup.
Get your copy now at Amazon.com!
Manipulate everyone in your lineup into coming back to ComicsOnline.com for more Blu-ray reviews and everything geek pop culture.
