Some questions about The Usual Suspects with spoilers galore. If you haven’t seen it, PLEASE don’t read (also, what’s wrong with you? GO SEE IT NOW!)
Posted by
Mop (aka rburriel)
Oct 6 '21, 23:42
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So this one’s explained in the movie, but just to clarify… the whole operation, the goal of the scheme set in motion by Keyser Soze is to raid a ship and kill a man that can identify him, yes?
This is Keyser Soze‘s M.O. He brings together criminals that owe him for a job, then they go their own way (or maybe they get rubbed out). But this time, he’s going in with them, presumably because of how valuable the objective is. He needs to do the job himself and eliminate all the witnesses. It’s his Hail Mary pass.
And yet… even as Verbal is leaving the police station and getting in the car, he doesn’t know his gambit has failed, right? Even as he’s talking to Agent Kujan, he doesn’t realize he’s playing against the clock, against a sketch artist and a fax machine, correct? After he leaves the police station, his criminal empire, his cloak of invincibility is collapsed. because now the police know what he looks like, and everything about his mystique revolved around how no one knew what he looked like... He’s more smug than he should be.
So… Verbal… has Keyser Soze always - or for many years, anyway - led a double life as Verbal? If I recall correctly, Keaton’s the only one who’s ever met Verbal. Is vouching for Verbal part of Keaton’s obligation to Keyser Soze? Had Keaton ever actually worked with Verbal before? Did Keaton know Verbal was Keyser Soze? Here there are numerous possibilities:
- Keaton vouching for Verbal was a total fabrication. We only have Verbal’s word for it, anyway. Keaton never knew Verbal.
- Or Keaton knew Verbal, and Keyser Soze was Verbal all along, but Keaton didn’t know that.
- Or Keaton knew Verbal, but then Keyser Soze had Verbal killed and then showed up one day and told Keaton to convince everyone he was Verbal “or else”.
- But Verbal has a rap sheet. Where did it come from? Maybe someone doctored some records. Seems something Keyser Soze could easily do. Could be as simple as planting a file that didn’t previously exist, or even just changing a photo in a dossier.
- Or, you know, maybe Keyser Soze liked moonlighting as a handicapped con man for years…
This is what happens when you watch The Usual Suspect with your kid. Her initial instance of shock is when Verbal says “How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?” She thought this implied that Keyser Soze had crippled Verbal. Boy was she in for a surprise!
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