The Usual Suspects

Plot synopsis:
On the deck of a ship in San Pedro, California, a figure identified as Keyser speaks with an injured man called Keaton. The two talk briefly, then Keyser appears to shoot Keaton before setting the ship ablaze.The next day, FBI Agent Jack Baer (Giancarlo Esposito) and U.S. Customs special agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) arrive in San Pedro separately to investigate what happened on the boat. 27 people have been killed in the fire. There appear to be only two survivors: a crippled man named Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Kevin Spacey) and a hospitalized Hungarian criminal and crewman. Baer interrogates the Hungarian, who claims that Keyser Söze, a Turkish criminal mastermind with a nearly mythical reputation, was in the harbor "killing many men." The Hungarian begins to describe Söze while a translator interprets and a police sketch artist draws a rendering of Söze's face.Meanwhile, Verbal Kint tells the authorities everything he knows in exchange for immunity. After making his statement to the district attorney, Kint is placed in a police station office where Kujan requests to hear the story again, from the beginning......Verbal's tale starts six weeks earlier in New York City, when an armored truck containing spare gun parts is hijacked in Queens. The driver of the stolen truck was grabbed from behind and never saw the person or persons who acosted him, but the unknown hijacker spoke to him. Subsequently, the NYPD round up five different criminals: Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) is a corrupt former police officer who has apparently given up his life of crime, and is arrested while eating dinner at a fancy restaurant; Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin) is a crack shot with a temper and a wild streak, arrested in the middle of the night; Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro) is McManus's hispanic partner who speaks in mangled English, and is nabbed on a street corner; Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak) is a hijacker who forms an instant rivalry with McManus, and is picked up while working on a car in his garage; and Verbal himself, who is a con artist that suffers from cerebral palsy. The five men are brought together for a lineup, and are told to say the phrase, "Give me the keys, you fucking cocksucker." They all manage to butcher the phrase. Later, while sitting in a holding cell, McManus convinces the others to join forces to commit a robbery targeting New York's Finest Taxi service, a group of corrupt NYPD police officers who escort smugglers to their destinations around the city. Their attack on one smuggler goes off without a hitch, with farther reaching consequences as numerous other officers are indicted on corruption charges.With their loot, the quintet travels to California to sell it to McManus's fence, Redfoot (Peter Greene). Redfoot talks them into another job: robbing a purported jewel smuggler. Instead of jewels or money, as they were told he was carrying, the smuggler had heroin. An angry confrontation between the thieves and Redfoot reveals that the job came from a lawyer named Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite). They later meet with Kobayashi, who claims to work for Keyser Söze and blackmails them into destroying the cargo of a ship coming to San Pedro harbor.In the present, Verbal Kint tells Kujan the story of Keyser Söze as he apparently heard it. Verbal's flashback reveals Söze's family being harassed by a rival Hungarian gang in Turkey. Söze goes on a murderous vendetta against all those who were involved. Afterwards, he apparently disappears; thereafter, he rarely conducts business without an alias and maintains anonymity between himself and anyone working for him. With time, Söze's story takes on mythic stature, with most people either doubting his existence or disbelieving it entirely.Back in the present, Kint continues to tell his version of what happened then. His flashback resumes to reveal Fenster's attempt to run away, but he is tracked and killed (off-camera) by Kobayashi. The remaining four thieves kidnap Kobayashi, believing Söze to be a cover for his activities and intending to kill him if he does not leave them alone. Before McManus can execute him, Kobayashi reveals that lawyer Edie Finneran (Suzy Amis), Keaton's girlfriend, is in his office. Kobayashi also says that he has the will, the information, and the means to injure or kill the remaining four criminals' relatives if they do not go through with the arrangement.On the night of the cocaine deal, the sellers--a group of Argentine mobsters--are on the dock, as are the buyers--a group of Hungarian mobsters. Keaton tells Verbal to stay back, and to take the money to Edie if the plan goes awry so she can pursue Kobayashi "her way;" Verbal reluctantly agrees to do so. He watches the boat from a distance, in hiding, as Keaton, McManus and Hockney attack the men at the pier in a huge gunfight.During the battle, Hockney is killed as Keaton and McManus discover separately that there is no cocaine on the boat. Meanwhile, Hungarians, yet untouched by the thieves, are being picked off by an unseen killer, and a closely-guarded Hispanic passenger is killed by an unseen assailant. McManus is killed with a knife to the back of his neck, and Keaton, turning away to leave, is shot in the back. A figure in a dark coat appears, presumably Keyser Söze, and lights a cigarette with a gold lighter. He appears to speak briefly with Keaton before apparently shooting him (the scene which began the film in medias res).In the present, with Verbal's story finished, Kujan reveals what he has deduced, with the aide of Baer: The boat hijacking was not about cocaine, but rather to ensure that one man aboard the ship--the Hispanic passenger held captive, one of the few individuals alive who could positively identify Söze--is killed. After Söze presumably killed the man, he eliminated everyone else on the ship and set it ablaze; Kujan reveals that Edie has also been killed. Kujan has concluded that Keaton was Keyser Söze. Verbal admits that the whole affair, from the beginning, was Keaton's idea. His bail having been posted, Verbal departs with his immunity.Verbal retrieves his personal effects from the property officer as Kujan, relaxing in the office he used for the interrogation, notices that details and names from Verbal's story are words appearing on various objects around the room. 'Redfoot' is the name on a wanted poster, for example, and 'Kobayashi' is written on the bottom of a coffee cup that Verbal handled earlier. Quickly putting the pieces together, Kujan realizes that Verbal made up practically the entire story as he talked. He runs outside just as a fax arrives with the police artist's impression of Keyser Söze's face.... which resembles Verbal Kint.As he leaves the police station, Verbal's distinctive limp gradually disappears and he shakes out his palsied hand. He steps into a waiting car driven by "Mr. Kobayashi," departing just as Kujan comes outside to see too late that Kint is gone. Verbal Kint is Keyser Söze, so how much of his narration was truthful is open to interpretation.

Tags: dark, boring, neo noir, murder, suspenseful, mystery, cult, violence, plot twist, flashback, clever, action, revenge, entertaining, storytelling

Review:
It's a modestly-budgeted piece by a fresh director (who later went on to do the X-Men movies, a FAR departure).A great, gritty script, beautifully-acted characters, and what many have called the greatest movie ending of all time, are some of the shining qualities that make the Usual Suspects an object worthy of praise above its humble-looking shell.The casting is very unusual but somehow fits perfectly.
With a little help from his accomplice Christopher McQuarrie, he signed an unparalleled gem in the landscape of the American thriller, even the whole cinema.The average viewer who watches "the Usual Suspects" for the first time might think that the whole crew concocted him a meandering story with as a leading thread, Spacey's convoluted story.
To watch "the Usual Suspects" is like gathering the pieces of an intriguing puzzle, a little like any other suspenseful movie but in the case of Singer's flick, one will never really be able to completely end it.
Be warned, if you stop concentrating for a moment then the remaining running time of the movie will be spent trying to figure out how what you missed has lead to what you are now watching.It concerns the story of five felons brought in by the police for a line-up and how those same felons reluctantly end up working for the mysterious and ghost-like Keyser Soze: a legend among the criminal fraternity, a man who no-one has seen and lived, a man so dangerous that he is thought to be the devil himself.you get the idea.
That's not to say it doesn't work, far from it, but it does leave you reeling from the sheer amount of information and names thrown at you from the offset.Gabriel Byrne is good, but not flawless, as the tortured Dean Keaton who is torn between his career as a criminal and his forlorn attempt at trying to go straight, but his relationship with uptown lawyer Edie Finneran (Suzy Amis) is badly explored and I never felt it gave motive enough for his actions throughout the movie.
Sadly, Singer has somewhat sold out by doing the X-Men movies, but I guess trying to make films like this would be too taxing.
His name is Roger Kint (Kevin Spacey is perfect) also known as 'Verbal.' From the mouth of this innocent storytelling, con-artist comes the fantastic tale of how he and his fellow criminals, Stephen Baldwin, is Michael McManus, Benicio Del Toro is Fred Fenster and Kevin Pollak as Todd Hockney were originally assembled and then set-up.
From CASABLANCA to PULP FICTION, and even a version of a line (intentionally or otherwise) from BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.Many people oppose watching a film with a twist a second time.
(Two of those five times I thought, 'well, I'll just watch about half-an-hour,' but ended up watching the entire film because it is so entertaining.) I'm not exactly a noir fan, so it is assured that this particular crime film appeals to a wider audience.THE USUAL SUSPECTS has a skilled director, an engrossing screenplay, and ten praiseworthy performances.
I was excited 'The Usual Suspects' is a mystery film about what cargo was on board the ship when it was destroyed and the events leading up to it as we are told from the only known survivor of that accident.Around 45-50 minutes into the movie, I was starting to find myself a bit tired and thought the movie may perhaps have dragged along just a bit.
The characters began to get a little more entertaining, the pacing certainly began to pick up, the dialogue was getting more interesting and overall, I was more excited.Then comes the amazing final twenty minutes with the plot twist and the story finally closing in perfectly, making the story more understandable.
Boasting petty criminal characters conceived so brilliantly they achieve near-mythological status, The Usual Suspects is known for riveting suspense and action, an intriguing plot line and a jaw- dropping twist at the end.
It also features some of the most memorable lines of the 1990s: "How do you shoot the devil in the back--what if you miss?" The characters, Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) and Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite) have real character details and cues.The film is set in the aftermath of a ship fire that totally burns the cargo and crew.
I tried to like this movie, but after being introduced to about 300 characters who all look and act alike (their names even rhyme, for God's sake!), and when the plot demands that we memorize all sorts of details about each one of them to follow the story, that when it stops being fun.
I felt like I was working overtime just to keep up with this mess.When the ending is finally sprung, and I thought about it in the context of the rest of the movie, it should have all made sense, justifying the over-complicated story, but it didn't.
Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio, Spacey....the list of appearances goes on and on and only sets the bar higher far any movie with a comparable storyline and cast.Christopher McQuarrie's inspirationally written script, is one of the finest of the the cinema era.
Spacey was good Byrne was good and the ending was clever, but if you take a long hard look at the whole film, you will see average movie making.
Don't get me wrong it was a very good film and I am glad I finally got the chance to see it but with critics going on and on about it, they kind of kill the magic of the movie.
A film can start of slow but the ending is the most important thing in the whole thing and I am glad to say that this ending was nothing short of a slap in the face.THE USUAL SUSPECTS - 8.1 OUT 10 THE GREATEST TRICK THAT THE DEVIL EVER PULLED WAS CONVINCING THE WORLD THAT HE DOESN'T EXHIST AND JUST LIKE THAT.....
After watching "SUSPECTS" four times making every effort to employ my most discerning eye, I am convinced the true genius of the movie hinges on this particular point!
One of only two survivors of a ship explosion (Kevin Spacey) tells a story to the police detective (Chazz Palminteri) in charge of the case about how five career criminals - the "usual suspects" - met in a lineup and wound up working for the man whose very name strikes terror into the hearts of men - Keyser Soze.As a result, two names were on everybody's lips for some months to come: Kevin Spacey and Keyser Soze.With a crackerjack script by Christopher Quarrie, great direction by Bryan Singer and terrific performances, The Usual Suspects couldn't miss.
I just saw it again, and it's as good as ever.Its other stars are the handsome Gabriel Byrne as Keaton, a bad cop who at one point faked his death to avoid criminal charges; and Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Toro, still a distance from stardom, Kevin Pollak, and Giancarlo Esposito as Kobayashi, Keyser Soze's persuasive assistant.As a scared, not very bright gimpy man, Kevin Spacey is a knockout and well-deserving of his Oscar, his Golden Globe, his SAG Award, his New York Film Critics Award and all his other honors.
But two hours later, I just could not understand why this nonsense got so much higher votes and evaluation than "L.A. Confidential".I'm saying this, not because of the labels people usually will put on this movie: confusing, twisted and so on.
I first viewed The Usual Suspects a decade ago, lulled into the cinema by a plethora of pretentious critics and knowing smart alecs who claimed this was the most intelligent piece of film making in a generation.
They are probably laughing themselves senseless at the army of critics who hail this as great film making and the sheep like audience who teemed into movie theatres at their behest..
Suspense, tension and psychological terror might be the exact words to describe this masterpiece, tangled story with several important characters whom cannot be ignored, with the masterly performance of Kevin Spacey who totally deserved the Oscar for best actor.
You must stay hooked up to the screen because this film has in my opinion the best movie ending of all time.
Told by Spacey with a series of flashbacks, the audience must pay close attention to the complicated storyline.Spacey is at the top of his game as Roger and he is joined by Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toronto, and Chazz Palminteri as assorted criminals, all with colorful histories of their own.The Usual Suspects is impossible to describe in a review without giving too much away.
I really cannot believe that this movie has its fair share of bad reviews and people who do not know what actually happened and what parts were true and what parts were lies.The truth, Verbal did recruit the others for the hit on the boat, he did manipulate, trap, and deceive them into thinking they were going to hit a big drug deal.
Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri and Stephen Baldwin make up a good foursome for this story and are interesting to watch play their parts.This is more of what I would call an "intriging" rather than a "satisfying" movie.
This guy is spoken of like he was Satan himself and of course the police want him big time also.I can't say much more because the plotting of The Usual Suspects is so intricate and filled with unexpected twists that to spoil this film would be a crime itself.
Just about everyone agrees that the surprise ending to "The Usual Suspects" is very satisfying, as is Kevin Spacey's performance as the pathetic yet strangely-likeable Verbal Kint.
Naturally, there's only a given amount of depth that can be accomplished in an hour and a half, but "The Usual Suspects" still barely reaches that.So while I would recommend this film for Spacey and the ending, I don't think its worth waiting around for 80+ minutes of ho-hum "gritty crime drama" to get to all the scenes where he really shines and where the script isn't so dull..
spacey plays more or less the same character he played in seven, and no one else here is exceptionaloverall this is still a good quality movie, but i would not regard it as a classic.one movie deserving of that accolade that was around shortly before this one, and a film that suspects borrows from rather massively (as did many movies made around that time) is pulp fiction.
Without question it is an entertaining, surprising, and well-acted film, but I can't see why it gets quite such high ratings on here.Kevin Spacey does a fine job of playing the part of Verbal, and Gabriel Byrne is okay too, but otherwise there were no outstanding performances.
Could anyone please tell me what is so GOOD about this movie???What makes this one of the best in history???Really,I wasn't impressed by the acting..only kevin spacey a little,but he doesn't deserve the Oscar!!!.Then,what so COOL about the story?it was obvious!I just can not figure out how a film like this beats so many other magnificent movies that are rated much lower???So,the acting wasn't fascinating.The plot was only ordinary,if not worse.The directing doesn't bring anything special...it's obvious why this wasn't even nominated fot best picture!!If it was as good as everyone thinks,it would had been much more appreciated by the professionists...This is only one of the many movies that tell one of those stories(which are all alike)but that got lucky and got some good votes.If you enjoy ordinary,not so good movies,watch this USUAL movie.
I just honestly felt that those who came up with the story were trying too hard to keep the viewers off balance, with no idea what was coming next, and to do that they came up with a plot that really just didn't flow all that well.As far as I could see, the greatest strength of the movie came in the last 10 minutes, when the ongoing mystery about the truth about Keyser Soze was finally revealed.
McQuarrie got the name Keyser Söze from the name of his former supervisor Keyser Sume, and the last name Söze is Turkish which is translated as "talk too much."The Interrogation scene was first shot and it ran for 6 days, and the rest of the movie was put together next and editing was the grand touch that made this mystery thriller that good a movie to see.The movie plot is about the interrogation of a small time con man named Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), who is a one of the only two survivors of a heist gone wrong that resulted to a fire on a ship.
As the story goes on and gets complex the interrogator connects the dots and explains the story better to Kint, only to get the shocker of his life when he releases Kint believing he was used by the other four.Done with a 6 million dollar production budget, the movie recouped its production cost and more; the well crafted screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie gained him an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Kevin Spacey won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the criminal Keyser Söze.The Usual suspect is a fine film, well developed to push the imaginations of the viewer, the unexpected ending is the cream on the top of this delicious masterpiece and one thing is sure, you will be asking for seconds after you are done seeing it the first time.
It was just such a good story with, as far as my standards go, the best plot twist I have seen so far in film.
I don't think anyone could have played Verbal better than Kevin Spacey, he just dominates this film to the point that at the end I actually clapped for him...and I was watching this home alone at 2am.
One of the best crime/thrillers out there,The Usual Suspects has one of the best plot twist endings ever for a movie.Five criminals are lined up and really have nothing in common.The film is told using flashback and narration as it tells the story of Roger "Verbal" Kint (two time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey who won his first Oscar for this film-Best Supporting Actor)who is a small time con-man being interrogated by U.S Customs Agent Dave Kujan(Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri) over an incident that takes place near a shipping yard in Los Angeles.The film has a great ensemble cast to it with the likes of ,Stephen Baldwin,future Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro,Kevin Pollak,Gabriel Byrne and Academy Award nominee Pete Postlethwaite.It also won the Best Original Screenplay(Christopher McQuarrie) and was directed by Bryan Singer(X-Men)Bravo to all those involved in a spectacular crime classic like The Usual Suspects!.
It's just a really complicated story and everybody that was watching the movie with me eventually got bored and left so I had to stop it after 45 minutes of wasted time.
All this is seen in flashback, at the San Pedro Police Station, with Special US Customs Agent Dave Kujan, Chazz Palmintri, interviewing Roger Verbal (Kevin Spacey),the only survivor of this holocaust, for what seems like the time you would have sat through an old movie triple-feature with cartoons newsreels and coming attractions added on.
At the end of the film, I felt manipulated and angry for wasting my time on such an empty movie..
The first and best reason to remember The Usual Suspects is one single line, spoken by low-level crook Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey): "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist".
This movie has a good cast, an okay plot line, but the ending is so predictable.
There is no doubt that this is an entertaining movie with a very good and well-disguised plot twist at the end.
I mean come on, I guessed every little bit of it after about 30 minutes and the only suspense left was whether they'd really keep it that obvious......Yupp, they didIf you want to see a surprise ending, folks, go see any David Fincher movie (make it Se7en and you won't even think that Kevin Spacey is that good in this one!).I havn't seen the Sixth Sense with it's famed ending yet, but you bet I hope its better....And right, there is actually one good scene that manages to save it slightly: Verbal Kint saying: The best trick the devil ever pulled of was to make people think he doesn't exist...
This movie has the greatest plot twist ever.I'm not gonna risk and spoil it for you if you haven't watched the picture yet but be sure to do so immediately.Great actors who deliver great performances and the biggest question of them all-Who is Kaiser Soze?What a movie!Edge of you seat stuff.The building tension explodes in the end.The 1st time you view the film you may be confused a lot but it's normal.Just pay close attention to all the details on the 2nd viewing.Don't know what to say that hasn't already been said great movie,simply great.Brian Singer is a God for coming up with such a unique story and directing it as the professional that he is..
The problems with movies like "The usual Suspects" is that they are taken too seriously.
This was not so...the film had its moments, but without giving anything away, it was all too fantastic (the villain).The acting is pretty well done, Kevin Spacey was convincing (like always) and the other supporting cast members were also good.
This movie is a good first watch, after that it seems like every other action/thriller with a twist ending but not as thrilling or action packed or dramatic or envoking or ....