The Usual SuspectsAn audience hears a story; an audience that truly listens hears more than what's merely told to them. And a good storyteller will always guide you to the intended destination. The Usual Suspects is a crime thriller, set in the aftermath of an explosive gunfight, recounted by the surviving member of a misfit group of crooks who found themselves tasked to perform a job for an elusive criminal boogeyman named Keyser Söze. Through a series of flashbacks and testimony, crippled small con crook, Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), tells the off-the-record story of what happened that night, from start to finish to U.S. Customs Special Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) with a yarn that guides him through the labyrinth.
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For those out there who haven't seen The Usual Suspects, you have at least two viewings to look forward to--both a little different--courtesy of your advanced knowledge on the second viewing about the deftly surprising ending. Events and moments are carefully and deliberately orchestrated, and seemingly meaningless details have a relevance which is almost flaunted when made apparent later. It is the masterstroke which leaves The Usual Suspects imprinted in the mind, and when it hits you the first time, you will find yourself going back to scenes, seeing them a little differently the second time around. Suspicion is no stranger to this neo-noir thriller about a motley crew of five crooks, drawn together for a police lineup, ostensibly to finger the criminal responsible for the recent heist over a truck of gun parts. Among Verbal is Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), a one-time legendary crook and ex-cop who has presumably been making an effort to go straight, even dating criminal lawyer, Edie Finneran (Suzy Amis). Agent Kujan has an axe to grind for Keaton, showing up personally to embarrass him, arrest him, and escort him to the lineup. So when Verbal is taken into custody following the massacre at the docks, Kujan questions him, not because he believes that he can incriminate Verbal, but because he is so obsessed with getting Keaton, no matter if the man may (or may not) be dead already. There is little to suggest that what Verbal begins to tell Kujan is any different from the suppressed statement he gave already, a testimony for which he has been eerily potent protection from legal action, an immunity exorcised by some unworldly, unseen lawyer working for Verbal. He tells him of how the other guys--the wild Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), the indifferent Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), and the unintelligible Fred Fenster (Benicio del Toro)--pushed Verbal to convince Keaton to cooperate with Verbal's idea to mug a corrupt police taxi ring, make a little money, and sell some gemstones to a fence in Los Angeles. He tells him about Keaton's apprehension to get back into the game, but how it was a temptation which was just too great for the crook, a gentle nudge off the wagon. Verbal tells Kujan all these things...but only when the name of Keyser Söze spills forth from the surviving (yet badly burned) Hungarian mobster--and is passed along to Kujan--that Verbal finds himself forced to share the legend of the most menacing and terror-inducing figure in the underworld.
Once Keyser Söze is introduced, the tone of The Usual Suspects shifts; what was before a story not far removed from a caper flick is now entrenched in suspense, and the mystery of this ephemeral shadow is forevermore cast upon the remainder of the film. But Keyser Söze is named from the start, in a fateful moment of dramatic irony one might almost forget, when Keaton is collapsed on the gasoline-drenched boat, approached by a man in a dark coat who presumably finishes Keaton off, according to Verbal's testimony. Testimony is the key word, the account of an unreliable narrator, one who is invested in the events which came before. Comparisons have been made to this end between The Usual Suspects and films like Rashomon and Double Indemnity, such as by the film's director, Bryan Singer, drawing a line between what you know and what you think you know, except that this line is largely invisible to the naked eye, an illusion. Verbal tells Kujan of how Keyser Söze was feared so greatly, that he was proclaimed to be the devil himself, and yet seemed to exist solely in myth, a legend, a monster operating only in darkness. To illustrate the kind of power Keyser Söze wields by virtue of being an unknown quantity, he tells Kujan that "the greatest trick the devil pulled was making the world believe he didn't exist". Effectively, Verbal describes the devil (and by association Keyser Söze) as a con artist, a fraud, but a deadly sharp one with tendrils stretched far and wide, including men who work for him like his executor, the lawyer Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), who appears later to "order" the five crooks to perform the fateful job on the ship, the results of which we know from the start. One story about Keyser Söze which Verbal tells Kujan describes how he was once a small-time crook in Hungary, who had run afoul of the Hungarian mob, and how following the mob's attack on his family, Keyser Söze set about on a campaign of terror and malevolence. Verbal's story is told in such vivid detail, that it is not at all different than the kind of "spook story" which Verbal claims it is supposed to be; and yet, Verbal asserts he believes it all the same, so that even Agent Kujan, who had heretofore had no knowledge of Keyser Söze, finds himself convinced that Keyser Söze exists, largely on Verbal's account. When you think of the devil, you envision the stories people tell about him, and your concept of him is born from the tales of others. Consider the characteristics of the devil: cloven hoof, master of lies, a sinister side; all of these are the devil's tells, a signature appearance, a persona to instill fear into the fearful. Those rumors make the prince of darkness an elusive figure which strikes fear into even the coldest of hearts...something inscrutable and unrecognizable; they say you never see the one that gets you coming. And these illusions make for the kind of magic act which The Usual Suspect pulls, springing a hefty surprise on the audience (and Kujan), just when you thought you were safe and comfortable with the folds of a blanket of answers wrapped less tight than you thought.
Recommended for: Fans of a clever and deceptive thriller, with a notorious twist and a complex plot. It is a smart exercise in narrative and storytelling, perpetually having you second guess what is shown and what you really see.
Once Keyser Söze is introduced, the tone of The Usual Suspects shifts; what was before a story not far removed from a caper flick is now entrenched in suspense, and the mystery of this ephemeral shadow is forevermore cast upon the remainder of the film. But Keyser Söze is named from the start, in a fateful moment of dramatic irony one might almost forget, when Keaton is collapsed on the gasoline-drenched boat, approached by a man in a dark coat who presumably finishes Keaton off, according to Verbal's testimony. Testimony is the key word, the account of an unreliable narrator, one who is invested in the events which came before. Comparisons have been made to this end between The Usual Suspects and films like Rashomon and Double Indemnity, such as by the film's director, Bryan Singer, drawing a line between what you know and what you think you know, except that this line is largely invisible to the naked eye, an illusion. Verbal tells Kujan of how Keyser Söze was feared so greatly, that he was proclaimed to be the devil himself, and yet seemed to exist solely in myth, a legend, a monster operating only in darkness. To illustrate the kind of power Keyser Söze wields by virtue of being an unknown quantity, he tells Kujan that "the greatest trick the devil pulled was making the world believe he didn't exist". Effectively, Verbal describes the devil (and by association Keyser Söze) as a con artist, a fraud, but a deadly sharp one with tendrils stretched far and wide, including men who work for him like his executor, the lawyer Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), who appears later to "order" the five crooks to perform the fateful job on the ship, the results of which we know from the start. One story about Keyser Söze which Verbal tells Kujan describes how he was once a small-time crook in Hungary, who had run afoul of the Hungarian mob, and how following the mob's attack on his family, Keyser Söze set about on a campaign of terror and malevolence. Verbal's story is told in such vivid detail, that it is not at all different than the kind of "spook story" which Verbal claims it is supposed to be; and yet, Verbal asserts he believes it all the same, so that even Agent Kujan, who had heretofore had no knowledge of Keyser Söze, finds himself convinced that Keyser Söze exists, largely on Verbal's account. When you think of the devil, you envision the stories people tell about him, and your concept of him is born from the tales of others. Consider the characteristics of the devil: cloven hoof, master of lies, a sinister side; all of these are the devil's tells, a signature appearance, a persona to instill fear into the fearful. Those rumors make the prince of darkness an elusive figure which strikes fear into even the coldest of hearts...something inscrutable and unrecognizable; they say you never see the one that gets you coming. And these illusions make for the kind of magic act which The Usual Suspect pulls, springing a hefty surprise on the audience (and Kujan), just when you thought you were safe and comfortable with the folds of a blanket of answers wrapped less tight than you thought.
Recommended for: Fans of a clever and deceptive thriller, with a notorious twist and a complex plot. It is a smart exercise in narrative and storytelling, perpetually having you second guess what is shown and what you really see.