The Usual Suspects

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

-Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects

There are very few movies in the cinematic world that truly make you feel like you’ve been had. The writer of this film, Christopher McQuarrie, said in an interview that he had one simple goal when writing this script. He wanted readers and eventually the viewers to not be completely sure what was happening until the very last moment. He was immensely successful. I remember watching this film and being so deeply confused at the convoluted storyline and events that I almost hated the film and didn’t finish it. Man, was I glad I did.

First off, this film was one of the first that started the whole ensemble cast crime flick. There was Goodfellas before it, so that movie helped pave the way for The Usual Suspects. Films that came out after such as Snatch in 2000 and The Departed in 2006 featured very talented ensemble casts. The difference is, those films were packed with stars. The Usual Suspects, in retrospect is packed with stars. But they weren’t stars in 1995. Kevin Spacey plays Roger “Verbal” Kint, the films narrator. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role, which propelled him to stardom. Spacey provides the narration while being interrogated by Special Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), who wants to know how Verbal got out of the heist that he and the suspects conducted that went bad. Massapequa’s own Stephen Baldwin plays the volatile McManus, and for a brief 100 minutes, he leaps out from his more talented brother’s shadow. However, while Kevin Spacey rightfully owns this movie, he yields the show to Benicio Del Toro. The now Academy Award winning Del Toro (Best Supporting Actor, Traffic, 2000) was truly brilliant in this film. He played Fenster, the incomprehensible, mumbling comic relief of the felons. The character was originally written for an older, 50 year old type actor. Benicio was originally asked to audition for McManus, but asked for the role of Fenster because he had an idea for the character. On the page, the character of Fenster was extremely poorly written. No real significant quirks, no depth. If you read the script, you can tell that he really has no purpose. On the screen, it’s a completely different story. Del Toro breathes life into an originally dead character, making the acting choice to mumble his character’s lines to give him sort of a flawed and human feel.

The plot of the film is easy to explain, but deceptively easy due to the many things that are going on. The 5 main characters are assembled in a police lineup in the beginning of the film and this is how they meet. Through idle prison chit chat in a holding cell, McManus tells the suspects of a job he heard about. They all get in on the job and realize they make a great team. They conduct a few heists, but then a scare is put into them. A lawyer corners them and says he works for the notorious crime kingpin known as Keyser Soze. Soze was supposedly an urban legend, but most criminals have heard of him and were afraid of him. The catch was that each of the suspects are guilty of stealing from Soze earlier in their criminal careers way before they all met each other. It is then they realize that Soze used his power to assemble these criminals in order to have them carry out a task for them. He sends them onto a boat to destroy cocaine that is headed to one of his competitors. However, when they are carrying out the job, things go awry. This part of the story brings us back to Verbal Kint.

Throughout the movie, Spacey’s voiceovers tell the viewer what is going on. Spacey is in reality talking to Dave Kujan in his office, but he is really talking to us. However, Kujan gets wise to Verbal’s story and begins to ask questions. He rattles Verbal and tries to look for answers. Once he gets the answers he wants, he is satisfied. This starts one of the most shocking and well constructed endings in cinematic history. I have seen the movie many, many times and I still get chills at the last moment. One of the pep talks that the director, Bryan Singer (Mr. X-Men himself) and Chris McQuarrie gave to the cast and crew was their mission statement. Their goal for the movie was to create a 100 minute long visual magic trick. It’s almost as if when the credits roll, you can hear Singer and McQuarrie yell “Viola!”.

The film gives the regular Joe a firm look at the criminal element and pulls them onto the heists with the suspects. Once the element of Keyser Soze is introduced, you become just as confused as they are. You want to figure it out just like the criminals do. The rest of the movie, you can’t help but think, “Who is Keyser Soze?” If you enjoy mind bending movies that kick you in the face time after time, then this is a must watch.

“And like THAT!... He’s gone…”

Next week: Fight Club