The Usual Suspects

Qualities of a Thriller

This film follows the conventions of thrillers in many ways; It is a detective story for a start, criminality is a common scenario for the genre. 

There are clues to the ending throughout the film, which creates a mystery for the audience, in a sense we are like the detective, being made to piece together the puzzle. However, it is not until the very end that we realise everything, the director withholds the revelation from us, and only afterwards do we fully understand the story.

The main character tells the story, so we relate to him and sympathise with him, however, it does raise the issue of reliability as we cannot be certain that the story he tells is true, and our suspicions are confirmed at the end.

The storyline is complex and spans a large section of time, intricate relations between events and characters are introduced as everything builds towards the final event.

The narrative deliberately misleads us to believe that Keaton was the enigmatic Keyser Söze, to set us up for the twist.

The musical score of the film repeatedly adds tension to important scenes, and creates character identity as certain musical phrases are associated with character's appearances.

The film's lighting style often appears natural, but many of the settings include under-lit areas where the director can emphasise the shadows and a sense of mystery.