Dialogue driven film noir

Rating: Null/10 (18 September 2000)

See imdb's "quotes" to give you just a hint of the quick lines and fast banter found in this movie. The police/suspect banter is as good as the police& nazi/suspect banter in "Casablanca" (which also spawned the title) and a few saltier references. Also the plot itself is huge: An internationally feared criminal terrorist who has an unseen web of associates murders 27 people on a freighter. Now he emerges as a suspect to american law enforcement officers who cannot even confirm if he exists or not. Their only witnesses are a burned survivor from the ship who claims it is the feared "Keyser Soze" and the least culpable member of the assassination squad who isn't really sure that Keyser Soze is alive or dead. Chazz Palmenteri is great as the badge-heavy/know-it-all fed as compared to the malevolent killer in Jade. Suzi Amis is the moonstruck girlfriend that can see no evil (James Cameron left Linda Hamilton for her?!?!) and ruins her life for her felon boyfriend. The final dock scene is better than Lethal Weapon 2's final dock scene. Keep the sound up so you can hear the patter, the reparte, as it is just so quick and glib that you'll be wishing you had some of those one-liners when the situation presents itself. Also, incorrectly regarded as a goof is that two different planes are seen landing. The first one (two engines) is Chazz arriving in LA to interrogate Verbal. The second (747) is landing in NYC and holds the emerald merchant. Watch this movie and listen. 9/10