The Usual Suspects (1995)
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A con man's convoluted tale of a mysterious crime lord unfolds during a police interrogation following a deadly ship explosion.
The story
Following a violent explosion and fire on a ship docked in the Port of Los Angeles, only two survivors remain: a Hungarian mobster and a physically disabled con artist named Roger "Verbal" Kint. As a U.S. Customs agent interrogates Kint in a local police station, Kint begins to recount a complex narrative. He describes a series of events involving a group of criminals who, over several weeks, engaged in a series of high-stakes heists and eventually became entangled with a legendary and elusive crime lord known as Keyser Söze. The investigation seeks to uncover the truth behind the massacre and the identity of the man who orchestrated the chaos.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After a deadly explosion on a ship in San Pedro Bay, a con artist named Roger "Verbal" Kint is interrogated by agent Dave Kujan. Kint recounts how he and four other criminals—Dean Keaton, Michael McManus, Fred Fenster, and Todd Hockney—met in a police lineup and eventually conspired to rob a jewel smuggler. The heist led them to a deal involving a shipment of cocaine, which they believed was being moved by a mysterious crime lord named Keyser Söze. However, the deal was a trap, and the group was decimated in a violent confrontation on the ship. During the investigation, Kujan learns that the 'victim' Keaton was actually the mastermind Söze, who staged his death to eliminate a smuggler. In a final twist, Kint's testimony is revealed as a fabrication; he is actually Keyser Söze, having manipulated the investigation to escape while the police were distracted by his elaborate story.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 106
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Bryan Singer
- Writers
- Christopher McQuarrie · writer
- Cast and characters
- Kevin Spacey · Roger "Verbal" Kint/Keyser Söze; Gabriel Byrne · Dean Keaton; Benicio del Toro · Fenster; Stephen Baldwin · McManus; Kevin Pollak · Todd Hockney; Chazz Palminteri · Agent Dave Kujan; Pete Postlethwaite · Kobayashi
- Genres
- crime thriller; mystery; heist
- Themes
- unreliable narration; identity; deception
- Tone and mood
- mysterious; tense
- Premise and plot tags
- non-linear narrative; crime; mystery
- Source material / true-story basis
- A column in Spy magazine
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film received favorable reviews, particularly for its mystery elements, screenplay, plot twist, and lead performance.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 87% · review count: 83; Metacritic · score: 76 · scale: 100 · review count: 22
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Original Screenplay · win; Academy Award · Best Supporting Actor · win
- Production trivia
- The emeralds used in the film were real gemstones.; The character Keyser Söze is based on a real-life man who disappeared in 1971.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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