To complete my attempt at the Alphabet Marathon I watched U for The Usual Suspects. It's been ages since I watched it and I'd forgotten how brilliant it really is. Not so much the story, which is very clever, but open to interpretation. On the contrary, the gimmicky nature of the screenplay makes the film as a whole more impressive with superb performances across the board, effective music, editing and visuals. There are some really great shots in there.
Which all leads to the conclusion that this Bryan Singer fellow is worth keeping an eye on. The Usual Suspects was his first major feature and he really hit the ground running, displaying a deft skill.
So why hasn't he built on that?
Instead of producing more films with an individual mark like The Usual Suspects, he's got into effects hungry superhero stuff. I almost use the term "sold out" but that would be astonishingly unfair. X-Men was early in the current run of men-in-tights and it's easy to take it for granted. Even easier when X-Men 2 proved to be the best possible sequel. And now he's resurrected Superman and will probably be there for a while, which I like, because I thought Returns was wonderful.
But watching The Usual Suspects I couldn't help feeling that there is a raw talent being left dormant. X-Men 2's structure was based on The Empire Strikes Back and Superman Returns aped the style of the original film. These are not easy tricks to perform and he did them well, but when you consider both films are based on well established brands, it doesn't matter how fantastic they are; a piper needs paying and they have none of Suspects basic individual and raw quality.
In another couple of decades, his blockbuster stuff will be lost amongst all the others (especially if he continues to relinquish control to hacks, as he did with X-Men 3). The Usual Suspects will still stand out as a superlative example of modern Noir. I hope he finds time to add a couple more to it.
Think of it from another angle and look at Christopher Nolan. Memento and Insomnia were excellent. So was Batman Begins, but in later years it will be just another Batman movie. However, Nolan is keeping a balance with The Prestige and if he keeps it up, he will be remembered for those and not forgotten under the weight of sequels to his more crowd pleasing films.
