The Usual Suspects

Rating: 8/10 (23 September 2005)

I remember seeing this film once before, I obviously didn't understand it properly and only remember bits and pieces, so I was definitely up for seeing it again to judge it more efficiently, from director Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns). Basically there was an explosion on the waterfront of New York, and criminal Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Oscar winning, and Golden Globe nominated Kevin Spacey) was the only witness, and FBI Agent Jack Baer (Giancarlo Esposito) and U.S. Customs special agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) wants him to answer their questions about what happened. Through flashbacks Verbal, who suffers cerebral palsy, tells the story of how he and four other con-men were brought into custody as "the usual suspects" that could have carried out a truck hijack. In the lineup were former police police officer seemingly giving up crime, Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), short-tempered professional thief Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), his partner Fred Fenster (Licence to Kill's Benicio Del Toro), hijacker Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), and Verbal. None of the five men are found guilty of th crime after questioning, and afterwards to get some kind of revenge McManus convinces the others to take part in a robbery targeting the city's finest taxi service. After this they sell the loot in Los Angeles to Redfoot the Fence (Pulp Fiction's Peter Greene), who talks them into doing another job, and even though Keaton said the previous one would be his last he agrees anyway. The robbery goes well despite the fact that it was heroin rather than money or jewels, and Redfoot reveals the job came from lawyer Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), who the five thieves meet, he says that he works for Keyser Soze, a renowned but unseen criminal mastermind. Kobayashi blackmails them due to the fact that Soze has been associated with their crimes in the past, he wants them to attack a ship on the San Pedro harbour filled with cocaine. In the present Verbal tells about the legend of Keyser Soze, a criminal feared like the devil who apparently killed his own family when they were threatened, and who no-one has ever seen the face of. Back in flashback, Fenster was killed earlier on when he dropped out, and the four remaining criminals go ahead with this job on the docks, only to realise it is some kind of trap and they are killed one by one, with Verbal and Keaton the last two alive. Of course Verbal explains that he supposedly watched Keaton being shot and burned before the explosion by the mysterious and unseen stranger, possibly Soze, but the officers aren't sure he saw anything properly. Verbal seems to be upset that they believe Keaton is Keyser Soze and may still be out there, and with his bail posted they let Verbal go with his possessions, and he limps away. The ending however is the big bang, when the police officers are relaxing one gazes at the wall of newspaper and photo clippings in the room Kint was being interviewed, and he drops his mug realising everything the conman had been saying was built up around the various words and names on the wall, Verbal as well in seen with his limp disappearing and left arm restored, and diving away with "Mr. Kobayashi". The final quote of the film is a repeat of the words Verbal said to the police, and where we realise he really was Keyser Soze, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." "And like that, he's gone." Also starring Suzy Amis as Edie Finneran and Dan Hedaya as Sgt. Jeffrey 'Jeff' Rabin. All the performances are fantastic, including Byrne and Postlethwaite, but especially of course the mesmerising Spacey who was not a big star back at the time, only known for small roles like Glengarry Glen Ross, he deserved the Oscar, the story is clever with a witty script and some exciting gun play and explosive moments, a good old fashioned and engaging crime thriller. It won the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and it won the BAFTA for Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Film. Kevin Spacey was number 4 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, Verbal Kint was number 48 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, and the film was number 17 on The 100 Greatest Films. Very good!