Movie Name: The Usual Suspects
Language: English
Genre: Mystery
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri
Director: Bryan Singer
Year Of Release: 1995
The film opens with a criminal, Dean Keaton, lying badly wounded on a ship docked in the San Pedro Bay. He is confronted by a mysterious figure whom he calls “Keyser”, who shoots him dead and sets fire to the ship. The bloodbath on the ship leaves only two survivors. Arkosh Kovash, a Hungarian mobster hospitalized with severe burns and Roger “Verbal” Kint, a con artist with cerebral palsy. Customs agent Dave Kujan flies from New York City to interrogate Verbal.
In the flashback, set six weeks earlier in New York, Verbal and the other four criminals are arrested on a trumped-up hijacking charge, and decide to pull another heist to get back at the police. Soon after, a lawyer named Kobayashi tells them that Keyser Söze, a Turkish crime lord with a legendary reputation from whom all of the thieves have unwittingly stolen, has offered them a job: invade a ship manned by a gang of Argentinian drug dealers with whom Söze is competing and destroy $91 million worth of cocaine onboard. When Kujan learns of Söze from FBI agent Jack Baer, he questions Verbal about him. Verbal tells Kujan the back story about Söze, that he is the fearsome urban legend, “a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night”.
Struggling with his limp and withered hand, Verbal remains in Kujan's custody and spills the beans on the other suspects and how Söze is making others do what he wants to get done. But here's the catch, no one has seen Keyser Söze till date, apart from Arkosh Kovash who is now hospitalized. How do the cops catch Keyser Söze, when they don't even know how he looks? Will Kovash wake up on time to provide his sketch to an artist? Also, how does Verbal know so much about Keyser Söze? His story is beautifully spaced and totally believable, but how does Verbal know all this? If he does know so much, why can't he help the cops in capturing Keyser Söze?
What I loved about it:
The mystery, oh the mystery! This is one of those movies where the mystery is revealed in the last second and boy, did it blow me away! The movie is fast paced with some fabulous actors. But it is Kevin Spacey as Verbal Kint, who takes the cake, cream, cherry and all! He did win a best supporting actor Oscar for playing Verbal, and he so deserved it. Kevin Spacey had been one of my favorite actors until recent times. I've loved him in this, in ‘American Beauty‘, and have loved to hate him in ‘House Of Cards‘. He is a fabulous actor with the right mean streak. But when he was accused of sexual misconduct, I kind of lost respect for him. Still, one cannot deny the brilliant actor that he is. Spacey as Verbal, carries the whole movie on his disabled body and holds on to the suspense till the very end. The story and the screenplay is one of the best of all time. The way the story was imagined, the way it has been executed, is all so brilliant!
Anything more I say, would probably give up the mystery of the movie.
Watch this movie for one of the best screenplays ever. Watch this movie for the best ever dialogues. Watch this movie for the brilliant acting. Watch this movie for the very last scene and go “Oh Fu*k”!
Runners-up: None.
This post is a part of the A To Z Challenge for April, where my theme for this year is Movies I Love.
