Bryan Singer's followup to The Usual Suspects (although without Suspects's screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie) is an adaptation of the Stephen King novella of the same name (from the collection Different Seasons).

Todd Bowden (Renfro) is a good-looking All-American kid in 1984 Los Angeles who discovers an old man in his neighbourhood (McKellen) has been living under an assumed name, and in fact has secrets that go back to World War II. Intrigued, Bowden demands that the old man let him in on the big secret, but when he complies, Bowden's life takes a turn for the worse - particularly when his guidance counsellor (David Schwimmer) suspects something is up. Saying any more would lessen the film's impact - the fact that you probably already know what happens, thanks to the advertising campaign, was in my opinion partly responsible for its failure at the box office.

For me, this isn't in the same league as The Usual Suspects - it lacks the taut pacing of the latter and the script is a little weak, particularly where it deviates from King's story. It's not a bad film, I just had very high expectations for it. I'd say those who haven't read the novella will probably get more out of it than those who already (mostly) know how the story unfolds.

'Keaton once said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him". Well, I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.'

The film begins where it ends, with most of the action occuring in the past through the experiences of Verbal Kint as he is interviewed by Palminteri. His story begins six weeks earlier with five criminals being dragged in by New York police desperate for suspects on a truck hijacking, involves many daring heists and ends with the possible identification of a criminal mastermind.

The Usual Suspects is an exciting, brilliant crime thriller with a powerful, fascinating, Oscar winning screenplay, on-target direction from Bryan Singer, and superior ensemble work by the leading cast members. I have never seen another thriller that has so thoroughly captured an audience's attention and then massacres their predictions of something they never knew to begin with. The entire cast is wonderful, from Gabriel Byrne as Keaton to Pete Postlethwaite as the lawyer Kobayashi, not to mention the Oscar-winning performance by Kevin Spacey as Verbal Kint.