The Usual Suspects By Brian Singer

The film The Usual Suspects by Brian Singer is about a group of 5 men who are joined together by a series of criminal activities and the suspicion of their involvement in them. The central themes presented in this movie are of corruption, deception and fear of the unknown. There are many cases where these principles are illustrated, especially in the characters themselves being notorious law-breakers and even the police officers being exposed as unethical at times. Deception turns out to be an essential theme, particularly at the end of the film, when the audience discovers that who they were lead to believe was a menial character, had actually been the evil mastermind the entire time. This “devil” that instilled fear into every other character

that spoke of him, had been hiding in plain sight all along, emphasizing the fear of the unknown. Moreover, there are also strong cinematic elements presented in this film that reflect the artistic style of renowned filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock.

These techniques being that, dialogue means nothing, characters must break cliché, surprise and twist, the creation of a MacGuffin and montage gives you control.

The first element coined by Hitchcock presented in this film is that dialogue means nothing. This is expressed in the interrogation scene where Roger “Verbal” Kint, depicted as an incompetent cripple, is being questioned by Customs Agent Dave Kuyan. He begins to ask the officers for trivial things like a cup of coffee, and is very insistent on it. He does this many times, and in turn distracting the officers as the try to get through the interview. Kint uses anecdotes that seem to be meaningless, and of a personal matter to stall, and steer Kujan off topic. However, just

moments after the interrogation is over and Kint is released with full immunity from prosecution, we see Officer Kujan realize that everything Verbal just spoke about for the past two hours had been all been a lie, and just made up stories based on randomly scattered words and labels on inanimate objects around the room. Without the help of any dialogue, the audience is able to see that Verbal in fact was not the naïve bystander he appeared to be, but actually a criminal mastermind who has an incredible ability to dream up these completely fabricated stories, just by the look on Kujan’s face and point of view of the camera in this montage. The fact that the audience was lead to believe that the entire string of activities these men had been involved in, was nearly all made up by one man, proves that we cannot rely solely on dialogue. Therefore, the focus should never be on what a person is merely saying, but what is really going on behind their words. This can be interpreted from their facial expressions, body language, and social cues. Observing people in this manner is a great way to become even more invested in the “secret” world of the character.
Next, Hitchcock also made famous the idea that characters must break cliché. I believe this to be the most strongly represented technique in The Usual Suspects for the fact that the evil villain is the character you least expect. Throughout the entire film, Verbal is portrayed as a “dumb cripple” who couldn’t be trusted to carry out a simple order. He puts strong emphasis on how afraid he is of the mythical “Keyser Soze”, and even begins to cry when the thought of his very existence is spoken about. The audience finds out at the end that Verbal himself is Keyser, the mastermind behind every operation. This is what ultimately frees him from prosecution, because no one expects the villain to be him, when really he had been hiding in plain sight all along.
The element of “surprise and twist” was another factor that I believe added to not only this movie’s, but also Hitchcock’s infinite success. In The Usual Suspects, discovering that Verbal is really Keyser all along has become one of the most well-known plot twists we recognize today. This type of conclusion may be seen as unconventional because having the “bad guy” get away, contradicts the audience’s view on traditional “happy” endings. Singer also adds an element of humor that may not be openly obvious to the regular viewer, which Hitchcock has also done himself. Keyser is said to be of Turkish decent, and in analyzing the name Keyser Soze, the word “soz” in Turkish means “a word or saying”. The shadow that is cast by Roger Kint’s alter ego is illuminated when you connect that his nickname is “verbal” and shares the same meaning.
Finally, in such high-packed action films targeted around a central idea, it is easy to lose track of what the point of the movie actually is.

This is called “the MacGuffin” effect, where the plot devices become meaningless props, and the focus is driven more toward the suspense of the scene. In this case, the MacGuffin is Keyser Soze himself. The goal is essentially to capture and prosecute him, but this seems less prominent as the audience focuses on the immediate drama they are faced with in each individual situation. There is another example of this when the 5 men are brought into a line up by the NYPD because of a truck found full of stolen guns. It is merely an aid in getting them all together, but the primary focal point is the reason for these individual men being called at the same time, which may seem random at first but is actually very purposeful and hides behind a deeper

objective.
Alfred Hitchcock has created a flawless strategy for great filmmaking. His techniques are clearly seen in many of the films we know today, and will continue to be adapted in generations to come. Several of these elements are presented in this movie alone, and can be argued to have lead to the award winning association it has received throughout time. Overall, I found this to be an incredibly made film and I very much enjoyed watching it. I consider this movie to be a classic and would definitely recommend it to others.