"The usual suspects" was highly praised at the time of release. One of the main reasons for this was the highly complicated plot.
A complicated plot is however not always an asset for a movie, although it can be. See for example the highly complicated (not to say incomprehensible) plot of "The big sleep" (1946, Howard Hawks).
There are a number of ways to make a plot or a film complicated.
Some films you have to see at least twice to be sure that the plot does not contain inconsistencies. A good example of this is "Memento" (2000, Christopher Nolan).
Other films contain multiple explanations of the same event, casting the existence of a single truth into doubt. Probably the most prominent example is "Rashomon" (1950, Akira Kurosawa).
"The ususal suspects" is in this respect slightly different. The story is about a heist by 5 criminals. The heist goes wrong, 4 criminals die and so we have only the story from the one that survives. But because this criminal was one of the participants in the heist, and he is interrogated by a police officer, he has to keep an eye on his own interests. So we have only one story and this story consists of fact and fiction. The (difficult) task of the viewer is to determine what is fact and what is fiction. Only at the very end the film gives the (surprising) answer.
After all the complicated plot is in my opinion not the biggest problem of the movie. Neither is the fact that the movie is plot driven, with no observable character development. What is a problem however is that the plot is highly dependend on the final twist in the last minute.
The heist of the film takes place on a ship, just as in "The man from London" (2007, Bela Tarr) a ship is the scene of the crime. But what a difference between the action packed "The ususal suspects" and the very slow Tarr movie. For me both films were too much at the extreme sides of spectrum. I suspect that there are few people who love them both.
A complicated plot is however not always an asset for a movie, although it can be. See for example the highly complicated (not to say incomprehensible) plot of "The big sleep" (1946, Howard Hawks).
There are a number of ways to make a plot or a film complicated.
Some films you have to see at least twice to be sure that the plot does not contain inconsistencies. A good example of this is "Memento" (2000, Christopher Nolan).
Other films contain multiple explanations of the same event, casting the existence of a single truth into doubt. Probably the most prominent example is "Rashomon" (1950, Akira Kurosawa).
"The ususal suspects" is in this respect slightly different. The story is about a heist by 5 criminals. The heist goes wrong, 4 criminals die and so we have only the story from the one that survives. But because this criminal was one of the participants in the heist, and he is interrogated by a police officer, he has to keep an eye on his own interests. So we have only one story and this story consists of fact and fiction. The (difficult) task of the viewer is to determine what is fact and what is fiction. Only at the very end the film gives the (surprising) answer.
After all the complicated plot is in my opinion not the biggest problem of the movie. Neither is the fact that the movie is plot driven, with no observable character development. What is a problem however is that the plot is highly dependend on the final twist in the last minute.
The heist of the film takes place on a ship, just as in "The man from London" (2007, Bela Tarr) a ship is the scene of the crime. But what a difference between the action packed "The ususal suspects" and the very slow Tarr movie. For me both films were too much at the extreme sides of spectrum. I suspect that there are few people who love them both.