The Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects, copyright 1995

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie

Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollack, Benicio Del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Giancarlo Esposito, Suzy Amis, Dan Hedaya

The "usual suspects" are five men: Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), an ex-cop-turned-crook; Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), a psycho entry man; Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), a hardware specialist with; Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), McManus' partner; and Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), a crippled con man. Police are investigating an exploded boat on a San Pedro pier and discover 27 bodies and $91 million worth of drug money. The only survivors are a severely burned and very scared Hungarian terrorist and Verbal Kint, a crippled con-man. Reluctantly, Kint is pressurized into explaining exactly what happened on the boat. His story begins six weeks earlier with five criminals being dragged in by New York police and U.S. Customs Special Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), desperate for suspects on a hijacked truck and ends with the possible identification of a criminal mastermind. But no one cracks, and as the criminals sit together in jail waiting to be charged or released, they hatch a plan for an elaborate emerald heist.

The mismatched low-life characters decide to pull a revenge heist on the New York cops, figuring that they've all been pulled in on some trumped-up charge. The target is the so-called 'New York's finest taxi service' - a scam run by corrupt cops where they transport criminals for cash - when they're carrying several million dollars worth of illegal emeralds. The robbery goes perfectly (as Kint tells it, he thought of the plan) except that their fence happens to do business in LA. Of course, they all have to make the trip west since none of them really trusts each other, even if they are partners. However, from here on the villains find themselves falling ever deeper into trouble as they come under the influence of an infamous criminal mastermind, Keyser Soze.

Working through his intermediary, Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), the team finds that every aspect of their lives is known to Soze, a man reputed to be ruthless enough to execute his own family rather than lose to an enemy. As Kint describes all of this to the incredulous Kujan, the special agent begins to see that there is more to this story than meets the eye; particularly when he learns about Soze from fellow officers. The storyline becomes further convoluted with double-crossings, murders, manipulation and blackmail as Kint draws ever closer to the present. Only one facet remains certain, the deft touch of Soze is detectable everywhere. In the end Kint is let go. He is out the door no more than a few seconds when Kujan realizes that Kint is Soze and chases after him, only to find him gone.

As the narrative progresses, the audience is only slowly let into the story, at the beginning, everyone on-screen knows more than we do. Gradually, however, the deceptions and plot devices are untangled by the switches back and forth between present and past. This film requires that a viewer pay careful attention to details. Unlike many motion pictures, this one continually builds to its conclusion. It starts out as the story of a small job, and then evolves into a search for the dreaded Keyser Soze. The Usual Suspects moves towards its inevitable finale, Soze's shadowy presence becomes increasingly more ominous and important, and we get the sense that those who think they hold the cards actually have the weakest hands.

The story is told in two different time frames. In the present, looking back on events, Kint sits across a desk from Kujan, unfolding the tale as he remembers it. But the con man is an unreliable narrator, and viewers of The Usual Suspects are constantly kept guessing about what "truth" is. In fiction films, we're used to getting an impartial take on "reality"; this picture twists that principle. Not everything presented in The Usual Suspects actually happens, and some things occur differently than shown. The opening sequence, which details the climax of the gang's capers, teases the audience about what may or may not be the ultimate