RUFFIANS

Rating: Null/10 (17 April 2001)

***SPOILERS AHEAD***
A few minutes into the beginning of "The Usual Suspects", U.S. Customs Agent Dave Cujan is giving the third degree to Verbal Kint, a gimpy, ornery con man who inexplicably was the sole survivor of a fiery waterfront massacre involving him, four other even ornerier outlaws, and a shipload of Hungarian drug traffickers. As Verbal rattles on, he slowly uncovers a labyrinthine criminal underworld of riffraff, professional thieves, and viciously competitive corporate gangsters where the orneriest of them all is the diabolical Keyser Soze, a legendary killer so powerful and mean and ruthless and vindictive that no self-respecting hood who values his own life dares double-crossing him, even though most are not even sure who he is, where and how does he operates, or if he exists at all.
This slyly entertaining jigsaw puzzle of a movie is a brilliantly constructed noir exercise on the mechanics of deceit, as well as a joke on the paranoid gullibility of the audience. When the jagged last piece of the puzzle is finally laid down the movie is over, and we might find ourselves laughing out loud in delighted disbelief.
With Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollack, Stephen Baldwin, and Benicio del Toro as the four desperadoes, Chazz Palminteri as Agent Cujan, Pete Postlethwaite as a shady Japanese lawyer, Suzy Amis as the love interest, Giancarlo Esposito as an agent with a hunch, Dan Hedaya as an agent with no clue at all, Paul Bartel in a bit role as a miscellaneous crook, and Kevin Spacey as the fifth desperado and Verbal Kint.
Editing and Music by John Ottman. Written by Christopher McQuarrie. Directed by Bryan Singer.