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The Usual Suspects
1995
Director: Bryan Singer
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie
Gramercy Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

"Who is Keyser Soze?" It was the question that rung out through the moviegoing masses during the last days of Summer in 1995. Bryan Singer had directed a phenomenally twisty noir thriller with sharp, smart dialogue and a cold, simple style.

Singer’s film starts off with an event that we’re convinced is real. A man lays dying on the deck of a ship. We later learn this is Dean Keaton(Gabriel Byrne) , a one time corrupt cop who’s turned to small time robbery. A masked figure walks up to him and casually kills him. We only learn this masked character’s first name: Keyser. Flash backward to the narrative; we’re meeting the small time band of crooks one by one: Keaton, Fenster, McManus, Hockney and finally, one Verbal Kint. Kint, a crippled small time crook, is the narrator.

The film focuses on the dialogue between Kint and Dave Kujan, a customs agent with the FBI. The film bounces back and forth between the flashback and the aftermath of the death of Keaton. The tale unfolds in two sets; in the past, we see the criminals plotting an emerald heist and in the other set, it’s all over and the only one left is Verbal Kint, a man seemingly protected by “up on high by the prince of darkness” as forces are seemingly at work as he sits in the police station trying to set him free. It’s the talents of Kevin Spacey as Kint and Chazz Palmentari as Kujan that makes the cat and mouse game they play as the dialogue unfolds completely fascinating.

But it’s not just Singer’s film. It’s just as much one Christopher McQuarrie’s. McQuarrie, the screenwriter, has been friends with Singer since the two attended high school together. It’s McQuarrie’s labrynth screenplay, full of twists and turns, that is the backbone of the film. It’s fascinating that the first scene can give you a sense of what happened during the final robbery,then spend the entire film convincing you otherwise, leaving you unsure of just who to believe. Some people accuse the film of "toying" with the audience(I've heard similar accusations towards the similar crime thriller "Bound"), but it knows what pace to let out information so we don't feel "teased.There are moments that hint at the final resolution, taking a risk and throwing ideas of who is "Keyser Soze" at us; but we can't be sure if the film is just playing with us or not, while it constantly adds layer upon layer of urgency and tension to the story. What makes Kujan such an interesting character in scenes like these is that he’s not the kind of brainless police officers that usually are featured in a lot of these movies.

"The Usual Suspects" is the kind of film that challenges and rewards us for following along, playing with our expectations of cast, conventions and concepts right up until the big payoff ending where we find out who really is "Keyser Soze". McQaurrie's dialogue deserved an Oscar and recieved it; it's one of the most wonderfully complex and rewarding thrillers in ages, and a favorite film of mine.

****