Keyser Soze at his finest on DVD

The Usual Suspects - R
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin
Directed by: Brian Singer Who is Keyser Soze? Any film fanatic worth his or her salt already knows, but the uninitiated soon will after checking out "The Usual Suspects: Special Edition" DVD. "The Usual Suspects" ranks alongside "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction" and "Heat" as one of the finest crime films of the '90s, if not of all time. The flick personifies the definition of an ensemble piece (despite Kevin Spacey's break-out Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor). Five career criminals (Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollack, Kevin Spacey and future Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro) are brought together as one of them is suspected of jacking a munitions truck. Pissed about the unwarranted inconvenience, the men pool their talents to knock over a corrupt police taxi service. Later, through an acquaintance, the boys hesitantly accept a stratospheric drug trafficking job from the infamously mythic criminal mastermind Keyser Soze. Things grow more and more complicated, twists pile up by the dozens (as do bodies) and all of this culminates in one of the greatest twist movie endings ever. This is the third release of the film in DVD format, and without a doubt it beats the crap out of previous bare-bones releases. The disc includes a new 16x9 hi-definition transfer and 5.1 stereo surround sound, never-before-seen deleted scenes, various featurettes concerning the film's production and post-production, a gag reel with an introduction by director Bryan Singer, audio commentary with Singer and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (winner of Best Screenplay for "Suspects" who later went on to both write and direct the excellent "The Way of the Gun"), audio commentary by editor/composer John Ottman, trailers and TV spots. The commentary by Singer and McQuarrie is especially entertaining. Obviously, it's a holdover from a past laserdisc release (the men don't discuss the film's yet-to-be-developed cult following or the subsequent superstardom of Spacey and Del Toro), but nonetheless it's fun to hear them point out the inconsistencies littered throughout the film. Those who are fans of the movie should definitely pick the disc up -- it's never looked or sounded better. And for those of you who haven't seen it, run, don't walk to pick up a copy, so you too will realize, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."