The Usual Suspects (1995)
In this discourse, we delve into the intricate narrative of "The Usual Suspects," a film that stands as a paragon of storytelling within the thriller genre. The central premise revolves around the enigmatic figure of Kaiser Soze, whose identity remains shrouded in mystery, as recounted by the sole survivor of a violent confrontation involving five criminals. We explore the nuanced performances delivered by an exceptional ensemble cast, including Kevin Spacey and Gabriel Byrne, which amplify the film's tension and intrigue. Our analysis extends to the film's masterful construction, characterized by its clever misdirection and meticulously woven plot threads that invite repeated viewings. Ultimately, we reflect on the film’s enduring impact on cinematic narrative and its significance in shaping contemporary storytelling conventions.
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Transcript
One of them.
Speaker A:Well, I'll let you go first.
Speaker A:I'm assuming you'd seen this movie as a movie.
Speaker A:Get the out.
Speaker A:You had never seen the Usual Suspects?
Speaker B:No, I'd heard about it, yeah, but I didn't know the twist, anything about it.
Speaker B:I heard, oh, it's such a great movie.
Speaker B:Such a great movie.
Speaker B:I just never got around to watching it.
Speaker B:So yesterday was the first time I watched.
Speaker A:Dude.
Speaker A:Welcome to the what's everyday podcast where we fashion ourselves cinematic judge injury.
Speaker A:My name is JJ Carter.
Speaker A:I'm here with my co host Alec Burgess.
Speaker B:Let's get it.
Speaker A:We appreciate you tuning in.
Speaker A:Go and hit that follow subscribe like bell notification buttons.
Speaker A:Tell a friend about us.
Speaker A:Tell a family member about us.
Speaker A:Again, I just don't.
Speaker A:Yeah, don't tell anyone.
Speaker B:Please don't tell.
Speaker B:I don't want Kaiser so say to show up at my house.
Speaker B:No, thank you.
Speaker A:I don't want any of these guys to show up in my house.
Speaker A:You don't.
Speaker A:We're good.
Speaker A:We'll just.
Speaker A:This is gonna be a month of don't tell anybody related to this movie.
Speaker A:And before we get into this movie, go check out W. GG where you can get 10 off with a code at.
Speaker A:Check out our verdict.
Speaker A:All one word.
Speaker A:They get energy drink powder.
Speaker A:It's a supplement if you will, but it's all coffee bean extract.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:They call it jitterless energy.
Speaker A:And I listen.
Speaker A:It's worked for me so far.
Speaker A:I will be continuing to use it like when I feel like I don't drink the energy drinks anymore.
Speaker A:And I never drank a lot of them in my older age.
Speaker A:I used to drink when I was a kid.
Speaker A:I wish I had this when I was younger.
Speaker A:So I drink a lot of them.
Speaker A:And then I started getting older and so I drink a can and I'd be like, feel like.
Speaker A:And my heart's in now.
Speaker A:But this just one little scoop in a glass of water in the morning and I'm good.
Speaker A:And it.
Speaker A:I don't shake.
Speaker A:I don't do anything like that.
Speaker A:And I did do.
Speaker A:I was like, okay, I have a big cup.
Speaker A:I'm gonna do two scoops.
Speaker A:That was a mistake.
Speaker A:I felt like I drank a whole energy drink on an empty stomach after that.
Speaker A:So they.
Speaker A:They give you.
Speaker A:They give you one scoop.
Speaker A:No more than two scoops in a day.
Speaker A:I follow that rule now because, yeah, it made a lot of sense, but I like it.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker A:It's good stuff.
Speaker A:Tastes good, works good.
Speaker A:Go check it out.
Speaker A:Go get your 10 off w gg our verdict to check out.
Speaker A:All right, let's talk about this episode.
Speaker A:We're in week four of our thriller movies, and we are doing the Usual Suspects.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:It was written by Christopher McQuarrie and it started directed by Bryan Singer.
Speaker A:It stars Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chaz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollock, Pete Poster.
Speaker A:Wait Susiami, Giancarlo Esposito, Dan Hadaya.
Speaker A:Jesus, this list keeps going.
Speaker A:Paul Bartel, Carl Bressler, Jack Shear, and Clark Greg.
Speaker A:It's about the sole survivor of a peer shootout who tells the story of how a notorious criminal influence the events that began with five criminals meeting in a seemingly random police lineup.
Speaker A:That's a weird synopsis, kind of on the head, but oddly worded, maybe.
Speaker A:Anyway, this was my movie.
Speaker B:This was.
Speaker A:This is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Speaker A:And I think it's because of the names I just listed off.
Speaker A:That cast is outrageous.
Speaker B:And
Speaker A:it's one of those things that it's just, to me, one of the better versions of storytelling in a movie that drags out.
Speaker A:Like, I. I think about good storytelling movies, and a lot of times even I have a beef with some of them where it's like, it drags a little.
Speaker A:It's a little slow.
Speaker A:I don't feel that with this movie very much.
Speaker A:There's a couple of spots, but for the most part, like, you're so curious as to the question of who is Kaiser.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And then, like, all the just random happenings and like, the way that these guys come together and the.
Speaker A:The fact that Kaiser Sosey or is just one step ahead at all times.
Speaker A:Or maybe it's not Kaiser Soza as you're watching the movie, you know, and maybe it's the lawyer is.
Speaker A:You know, any number of people in this movie could be Kaiser.
Speaker A:So say you have Kobayashi.
Speaker A:That's obviously the.
Speaker A:The biggest suspect.
Speaker A:But it's like I'm so enthralled by figuring out the answer to this question at the center of it all, which is, who is Kaiser?
Speaker A:So that I don't worry because I'm like, where are the nuggets in this dialogue?
Speaker A:And it just keeps me.
Speaker A:When I was watching it, I was like, holy.
Speaker A:And the acting is outrageous.
Speaker A:And I was 14, by the way, when I watched this movie.
Speaker A:And it was.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was.
Speaker A:It was one of those movies that, when I think back on it, it was very influential in my love of movies in my teenage years because I was like, this was really good.
Speaker A:And then the end flips around, and Verbal starts walking normal, and I'm like this.
Speaker A:And then as you go back and I.
Speaker A:And I think the other thing that I really love about it is, at least for me, the rewatch ability is so strong because I catch a new little hint all the time almost every time I watch it.
Speaker A:And the fact that, like, one of my.
Speaker A:Well, I'll let you go first.
Speaker A:I'm assuming you'd seen this movie as a movie.
Speaker A:Get the out.
Speaker A:You had never seen the Usual Suspects.
Speaker B:No, I'd heard about it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I didn't know the twist, anything.
Speaker B:I heard, oh, it's such a great movie.
Speaker B:Such a great movie.
Speaker B:I just never got around to watching it.
Speaker B:So yesterday was the first time I'd watched it, dude.
Speaker B:And I. I will say I. I felt proud of myself.
Speaker B:I was on my A game because I figured it out sooner than I normally do in a movie.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Which is usually about 20 seconds after they've revealed it when I figured out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But I think it's because we did seven recently.
Speaker B:And so I saw Kevin Spacey.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I know what month we're in.
Speaker B:We're in thriller months.
Speaker B:I'm like, okay, Kevin Spacey, you know, watch it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:As soon as he's the one who's telling the story, I'm like, watch that guy.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:And then I suspected him when we first meet Kobayashi.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And he's the only guy who doesn't know.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, that's suspicious.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And then I was.
Speaker B:I was pretty sure even later when we see Edie at the office in LA or whatever.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We see that happen.
Speaker B:I was like, that's interesting.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Type of thing.
Speaker B:And then when Kuzan or whoever was tells, you know, Kent, it's like, edie's dead.
Speaker B:I was like, that.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Because they're.
Speaker B:They're getting to the point.
Speaker B:So I was, like, really proud of myself when it did turn.
Speaker B:And I get it all because, like, I got it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Early.
Speaker B:Because by the time we get to the handing back of his stuff.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And it's like, gold cigarette lighter.
Speaker B:I was like, boom, confirmed.
Speaker B:I knew it.
Speaker B:So I got to enjoy the, you know, the.
Speaker B:The reveal a whole lot more than I normally do.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Because typically I would get the twist after the credits start rolling.
Speaker B:I'm like, ah, okay.
Speaker B:I see.
Speaker B:But this time I got a little bit earlier.
Speaker B:And so I was.
Speaker B:I was like, oh, wow.
Speaker B:No, this is really good.
Speaker B:Because they.
Speaker B:It's just like you said, it's Such a good story, well told.
Speaker B:There's enough happening in the background that makes you think, oh, no, this or that.
Speaker B:And you're constantly being switched back and forth and it's.
Speaker B:It's enough.
Speaker B:I mean, I think the casting of Dean Keaton, Gabriel Brinwright, that is the thing that makes it happen, is he's got that.
Speaker B:That suave kind of look.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The character they built around him is he's.
Speaker B:He's this mastermind genius that, you know, has gone straight.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:He's given up the life and all these things.
Speaker B:You know, we spake this death and he came back from the dead, and there's all these things that point right to him.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's almost so perfect because you also have such a charismatic actor playing that role that you believe he's Keaton and he's this.
Speaker B:This guy who is at the center of the spider web, as it were.
Speaker B:And it's kind of crazy because most of the scenes that are titular scenes, right.
Speaker B:You have Kevin Spacey there, but he's.
Speaker B:He just blends into the background so well when cast next to Keaton and Gabriel Branson, like, oh, man.
Speaker B:Like, it all makes sense as you start to connect the dots.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it's like, okay, yes, masterful storytelling at work, but I'm also glad that I didn't see it before.
Speaker B:I could appreciate it, if that makes any sense.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:You know, seeing it through, being embarrassed that if I seen it when I was 14 or something like that and then not getting the twist, and I have a much more positive outlook because, like, I figured it out first.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure.
Speaker B:So I'm like, on cloud nine about the Usual Suspects because.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker A:That's awesome, dude.
Speaker A:I had no idea I would.
Speaker A:I had assumed 100 that you had seen this movie because.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's just.
Speaker A:I mean, it's one of those movies that you can say a different.
Speaker A:And I remember being, like, I said, a teenager and, like, people asking that question all the time, who is Kaiser?
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And then, like, you'd see people using, like.
Speaker A:Because that was, like, about the time that video games were starting to get, like, where you had your own user tags and things.
Speaker A:Like, so people were always doing Kaiser so.
Speaker A:Or, like, Kaiser.
Speaker A:And so it was, like, really funny because, like, it stuck.
Speaker A:And it was one of those, like, movies that really kind of changed some of the dynamics of storytelling in Hollywood in general.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's just one of those things that's so well written and it kind of well, it didn't kind of like pushed McHugh.
Speaker A:McQ, who's Christopher McQuarrie, the writer is also known as McHugh in the.
Speaker A:I mean that's what he signs most of his movie or TV shows and movies.
Speaker A:And so like if you go back, like Mission Impossible, a lot of the most recent Mission Impossible mov.
Speaker A:Top Gun, the most recent Cop, the sequel to Top Gun, that's all him.
Speaker A:He works a lot with Tom Cruise these days.
Speaker A:He did the TV show Chuck, if you ever watch that.
Speaker A:Like, that was his show.
Speaker A:So he's always been a very clever writer.
Speaker A:And this was the first movie and it to give like some context to how clever this son of a is.
Speaker A:The idea for this movie came from nothing other than.
Speaker A:Than the photo of a lineup.
Speaker A:Like he saw that and went it.
Speaker A:I'm gonna write a movie.
Speaker A:And this is what came of it.
Speaker A:And then you, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's just wild when you think about the level of cool that you get.
Speaker A:And this was back when Brian Singer was still making good movies.
Speaker A:So this was before.
Speaker A:Never mind, I'll stop.
Speaker A:But yeah, like, it.
Speaker A:It just is for me the epitome of storytelling in modern movies or one of the epitomes because it just still to this day, like I find myself watching the back wall in the interrogation of verbal.
Speaker A:And you can see the names he's pulling out of the wall.
Speaker A:You're like, get the out of here.
Speaker A:Like every story, almost every story he tells about Kaiser Soze or whatever all comes from on that back wall.
Speaker A:And you're just like, get the out of here.
Speaker A:Like, it's just so clever and so smart and keeps you guessing.
Speaker A:And then you add in the fact that you have this brilliant script, brilliant story, and the amount of, like you said, actors that are in it is outrageous.
Speaker A:I mean, Kevin Spacey, this was Kevin Spacey's heyday, right?
Speaker A:Like, this was.
Speaker A:This was this guy.
Speaker A:And then like you said the rest of them.
Speaker A:I mean, even Stephen Baldwin, like, who's the goofiest on the planet?
Speaker A:Because all I think about when I see him is Biodome.
Speaker A:That's the.
Speaker A:That's the first thing I think about when I think of Stephen.
Speaker A:And so it's like.
Speaker A:But seeing him as this ruthless, hot headed.
Speaker A:I was like, he did very well at that old Steven Baldwin.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And yeah, it's just so good.
Speaker A:The cast is so good and it's subtle.
Speaker A:I mean, when you think about the fact that you got Giancarlo Esposito in like a role that you're like, look at that.
Speaker A:He was so good in it too.
Speaker A:And he's like kind of this half bit part like.
Speaker A:Anyway, the acting is phenomenal.
Speaker A:The story is phenomenal.
Speaker A:It's just one of those movies that I.
Speaker A:It really defined like movie going for me in my early teens, mid teens.
Speaker B:At one point I was really, really hoping Esposito is going to be Kaiser because the dude is such a good villain.
Speaker B:Oh, he's made to play villain so good.
Speaker B:I was sitting there going.
Speaker B:I was like, please, please, that would be so great.
Speaker B:Even though I was like, nope, I know who it is.
Speaker B:I was like, throw.
Speaker B:Throw me something crazy.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And make it the.
Speaker B:The guy who's investigating.
Speaker B:Because he's just such a great film.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And he's just got the.
Speaker B:You got the voice for it.
Speaker B:He's got the movement.
Speaker B:He just acts so menacing.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:He's amazing.
Speaker A:And he's always been that way.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I will say, though.
Speaker B:So the one part that did kind of confuse me is when we're getting to the end, Right.
Speaker B:We have the big boat scene.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so we, we now we know at some point that Kevin Spacey runs away and just starts murking everybody on the boat.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That he's after the.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It didn't exactly sit in my mind, the timing behind it that he's able to move around without being seen, get behind McManus and stick this dude with a knife.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:At the same time that he offs the guy who can identify Marturo, whoever it is, and then somehow is able to.
Speaker B:Or finds a way up and around on the balcony to where he confronts Brit.
Speaker B:And so there was that, you know, it felt like purposeful, you know, like misdirection for that reveal versus I think you could get away with just having an almost ambush thing, which is what we got with Hawkins.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:The man like you, you can do essentially the same thing.
Speaker B:Just put Spacey on the balcony, McManus comes out the door, get rid of him, then go after Gabriel.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:You can have that.
Speaker B:That kind of thing.
Speaker B:But the misdirection was almost too heavy handed in its way.
Speaker B:Now I was kind of like.
Speaker B:I was like, oh, well, you could actually do it in a way that makes sense.
Speaker B:And if you take into account that he's, you know, not actually crippled.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And he's got better movement than what we're led to believe.
Speaker B:It happens.
Speaker B:I was like, with the amount of.
Speaker B:Around the corners through this giant yacht.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Holy smokes.
Speaker B:This thing is like a Tardis, way bigger on the inside.
Speaker B:But to circle back around and get McManus after, like, sneaking around to two guys who are looking for, you know, dope, but they're looking hard for it type of a thing.
Speaker B:Like, they're on high alert.
Speaker B:And so that.
Speaker B:That was the part where it got me going.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:Like you almost could have accomplished the same thing without needing to have this extra layer attached to it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because we don't see necessarily, you know, we don't see him stab McManus.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:We don't see him even shoot Gabriel.
Speaker B:We get it from that viewpoint.
Speaker B:And then the viewpoint, the beginning is, of course, him at the balcony walking down and finishing the job.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But it was kind of interesting that things that I noticed was, like, in the initial scene, right, we're showing you what happens.
Speaker B:We got sideways gun.
Speaker B:Yeah, Right.
Speaker B:And then later in the movie, Fenster is the only one that has sideways gun.
Speaker B:And so I was like, oh, hey, that could be a clue.
Speaker B:But then, you know, we offense.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So that's not a clue.
Speaker B:But it's deliberately laid there to make you think that it's.
Speaker B:It's somebody who.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so I was like, okay, there's.
Speaker B:There's almost, in its own way, too much misdirection for me.
Speaker B:Because now you're just almost throwing in stuff that wouldn't make sense to the story that you're telling.
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker B:Down to even, you know, the.
Speaker B:The point that we've got, you know, at the end fight.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We got Kent with the.
Speaker B:Not a sidearm.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:He's got some form of rifle or modified, you know, Uzi or something like that.
Speaker B:And so he's got this modified kind of weapon.
Speaker B:But we see sidearm when he comes after Gabriel.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's like.
Speaker B:So that's a conscious decision that he's making when it doesn't make much sense.
Speaker B:When you have range or whatever and you have a firearm that you're clearly using.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so it was all those little, like, misdirection things that when we get the story later, it's almost like, why?
Speaker B:Because you have such a great story.
Speaker B:You have the.
Speaker B:Enough obfuscation or whatever the word is, but you obscured it enough that I don't need to really be swirling around thinking about it.
Speaker B:You can tell the story in linear fashion and still get that.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh, Kint did it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Type of.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Because there's enough of that already happening.
Speaker B:And so there There were certain points.
Speaker B:It was really with that final fight where I was like, well, that doesn't actually.
Speaker B:That doesn't make sense.
Speaker B:That doesn't make sense.
Speaker B:Why do it that way?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:When I don't think it was necessary to still tell the story that you told.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I agree.
Speaker A:I think that is one of the things that I always laugh about is the fact that they play so hard into the almost impossible.
Speaker A:Even for a normal human being to be able to time that up and move in the way that he does, he would have to.
Speaker A:But it's all because the.
Speaker A:I. I'm sure it's all because they were like, well, we need him to say there's no way that a cripple could even come close.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Like, someone with that kind of disability.
Speaker A:There's no way.
Speaker A:And I. I agree with you.
Speaker A:Like, I think they laid enough groundwork.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:It's tough because when I.
Speaker A:When I go back and watch it, one thing that Kevin Spacy does throughout the movie is there's little scenes where you'll catch him on camera where he's not the focal point of the camera, but if you look at him, you can see his facial expressions change when he's verbal or when he's.
Speaker A:Do I have to be Kaiser?
Speaker A:So right now, like, especially, like, when they first meet Kobayashi, or not meet him, but they go after him, right.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And there's this look, and he's got the gun holding on him.
Speaker A:And then, like, there's this look in his eye that changes, and you're like, wait, that's not this meek little.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:Dis.
Speaker A:Disabled.
Speaker A:Verbal.
Speaker A:That's still a criminal.
Speaker A:But he's never like, the vindictive one.
Speaker A:That's always Stephen Baldwin.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Or that's always.
Speaker A:And then there's like, the crazy moments where you're like, that's not.
Speaker A:That's where he takes out Saul Berg.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Like, there's just these moments where when I watch it back.
Speaker A:But I think you're right.
Speaker A:I think they did enough to misdirect you from him, even without, like, those extra couple of, like.
Speaker A:But that's not possible for anybody, you know what I mean?
Speaker A:Let alone someone with that disability.
Speaker A:So I do agree that they probably overtone that a little bit, but it's so much fun.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:So I think what I.
Speaker B:Because what really kind of got it is the, like, you're saying it's the background scenes where he's not really a part of it.
Speaker B:So we have him sitting with Keaton, and they're waiting, essentially, to talk to Edie before they leave.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's a string on the board of.
Speaker B:Oh, Keaton cares about Edie.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then that comes out later when.
Speaker B:At the boat.
Speaker B:Keaton's like, hey, if things go south, you get out of here.
Speaker B:You go to Edie.
Speaker B:She's.
Speaker B:She can find out stuff.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:From her way.
Speaker B:She's going after Kobayashi.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Type of a thing.
Speaker B:So Clint's like, okay, cool.
Speaker B:She has to go.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so it's.
Speaker B:You have enough just with those two going the back and forth that there's to.
Speaker B:To obscure what's happening, but still tell you exactly what's happening.
Speaker B:And it's all through the Ed connection.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because that's when I.
Speaker B:As soon as it came out, like, oh, yeah, she killed in her hotel room.
Speaker B:That's where I was, like, boom.
Speaker B:Because there's no other reason for kind of.
Speaker B:Or in my mind, when I was.
Speaker B:You know, it's like, there's.
Speaker B:There's no other reason for that course of events to happen.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because they do a good job of telling.
Speaker B:Like, Keaton really likes Edie.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:He's not gonna hurt her.
Speaker B:He's not gonna do anything to make her uncomfortable.
Speaker B:You see the emotion on his face when he sees that she's meeting with Kobayashi.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You have that guy.
Speaker B:It's like, dang it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because he's supposed to be the mastermind behind everything.
Speaker B:He's the old cat in the group.
Speaker B:And so you have this kind of.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You can tell.
Speaker B:And then it's like the story they're trying to push.
Speaker B:Oh, no, he killed 80.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, no, no.
Speaker B:Kent did it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Not so much.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it all.
Speaker B:It's all because of that one line of, she can figure it out.
Speaker B:It's like, cool.
Speaker B:Well, now I know who I have to remove from the equation next.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so I think you can get the same exact reaction by just focusing down on the conversations and scenes between Kevin Spacey and Gabriel Brin.
Speaker B:Because they do.
Speaker B:They work so well together.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Specifically for this misdirect.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I mean, I think.
Speaker B:I think you can accomplish the same thing without having to throw in all these almost superhuman tendencies of, you know, Kaiser Soze.
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker B:Because that.
Speaker B:That leading into that almost mythology of it is what kind of pulls me out a little bit when I'm almost like, you could literally just tell the same exact story.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:No, I. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker A:There is a lot of over the
Speaker B:top stuff, but it still works.
Speaker B:Like, I will say that it still works to the point of the misdirection.
Speaker B:But when I was like dissecting it and going back and forth, I was like, well, you could have done more with less.
Speaker B:But it also, in its own way within the entire story, it almost feeds into the lore of Kaiser so say, being, you know, superhuman, doing everything.
Speaker B:So the, the other kind of tidbit I, I would have liked to see, but that's just me, is some way to make sure the legend grows.
Speaker B:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:And so there's not a whole lot of that, but if you take someone like Stephen Baldwin and McManus or Hawken, they can have this, you know, they can spread it out.
Speaker B:And now it's this.
Speaker B:It's the legend continuing to grow, as it were.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I would have liked it.
Speaker A:That's always one of my things that I'm like, yeah, but how else does people.
Speaker A:Are people afraid of him anymore?
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then I also don't love.
Speaker A:Like, I realized that it played well because of the little eating grin at the end and the.
Speaker A:Oh, I realized, you know what I mean, I don't want the cop to figure out because now somebody's seen his face and so, well, they have a sketch of him.
Speaker B:So that's going up everywhere.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's the part where I'm like, I would have rather them done something where the cop figures it out at some point, but immediately is taken out because he's recognized that this is now Kaiser Soze.
Speaker A:Because again, the legend is now in trouble because someone has identified what he looks like, who he is.
Speaker A:Who knows if anybody believes him.
Speaker A:And maybe that's.
Speaker A:I don't know, maybe I'm looking at it wrong.
Speaker A:Maybe that's part of the legend is that, you know, he's also good at impersonating other people.
Speaker A:But then that still makes his life more difficult because.
Speaker A:Anyway, I. I'm with you.
Speaker A:I wish there had been more additional pieces to the.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The tall tale that is cut that Kaiser so say, you know, because the
Speaker B:other thing that kind of got me is the.
Speaker B:Everything really hinges upon this one moment with the facts coming in and you get visual confirmation.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But the problem that kind of sits with that is again, this is the underground boss, right.
Speaker B:The Hungarian never knew who Kaiser so was.
Speaker B:Yeah, that makes any sense.
Speaker B:Like he wasn't hired by Kaiser, so he was there to get someone who could allegedly describe.
Speaker B:But the deal never went through, so the Hungarians never Actually get to talk to him to get this description.
Speaker B:And it's not like, you know, Kent went up on the boat and said, all hail me.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And started blasting.
Speaker B:So it.
Speaker B:It almost doesn't.
Speaker B:Like, how does he know what to tell the cops?
Speaker B:As this is 100 for sure.
Speaker B:Kaiser Sosey, unless he's the Hungarian that got let go way back in Hungary.
Speaker B:But then.
Speaker B:Yeah, but then it already tells us that he hunted down the Hungarian mob.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so that's the idea that nobody knows who he is and who his face is.
Speaker B:Nor to get the twist ending, you have to know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But the source of information, it doesn't make any sense because he.
Speaker B:Anybody who looks at him or can't ID him gets offed.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Pretty frequently or.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Pretty quickly.
Speaker B:And so that.
Speaker B:That was another aspect where it's like, it plays off really well.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker B:But when going back and reviewing it, I'm almost like, it doesn't make a lot of sense as to why they.
Speaker B:They were able to get this sketch from this guy who survived.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because how does he know who Kaiser Soze is?
Speaker B:Because again, Kent wasn't on the boat until pretty much the work was done.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:At that point, this guy's covered in burns.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it did there.
Speaker B:I think you could have gotten a real quick clip of just him.
Speaker B:We'll say fading in and out of consciousness, seeing the angle of Kaiser shoot print or whatever.
Speaker B:You just show that he's awake.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then he's the guy from later.
Speaker B:And then you.
Speaker B:Then you've connected the dots to that.
Speaker B:Yeah, he has seen it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But again, Kaiser doesn't know he survived.
Speaker B:He doesn't know that where he is or anything that nature.
Speaker B:And you can have one of those Kevin Spacey moments when the cops tell him, like, oh, hey, yeah, no, somebody else survived too, but he's in condition or all this nonsense.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:So when the fax comes through, then it makes it getaway, feel like, oh, dang, it's right there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I was like, these are the little tweaks.
Speaker B:When I figure something out quickly.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:My brain can go free.
Speaker B:It's like, oh, well, wait a minute, that didn't make sense.
Speaker B:Why did I do it this way?
Speaker B:But then, of course, you unravel a little bit what the story's trying to tell.
Speaker B:And maybe you give away too much too soon.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I've often thought that it would have been interesting instead of him, like, walking away with a limp and then the limp going away and him getting in the car.
Speaker A:Like I've often thought it would be interesting to have him walk away.
Speaker A:And then you get the facts, but you don't see the facts.
Speaker A:And he, his eyes go wide and he's like, I know who it is.
Speaker A:And then it cuts and then the next thing we see is someone offing the cop and the guy, the, you know, the Hungarian.
Speaker A:And like then he limped away and they limp.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:Or, and then, or yeah, maybe you take the limping scene out earlier and then.
Speaker A:Yeah, and then it's, then it happens.
Speaker A:But yeah, like that's.
Speaker A:I've often thought they could have done something like that too.
Speaker A:Where it's because to me that then closes the loop on.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Someone knowing which he would never let allow to stay out there based on what we know about him.
Speaker A:So anyway, I'm just happy you hadn't seen it before, that's why.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, it was good.
Speaker B:I'm glad that this was a first time watch for me because it, it's one of those that, you know, being at this point.
Speaker B:30 years old.
Speaker B:Yeah, years old.
Speaker B:30 years old.
Speaker A:30.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:31.
Speaker B:It's, it's been around for a while and it hasn't been spoiled for me.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot that can be spoiled in this.
Speaker B:But it's, it's not one that's made its way to like social media or tick tock or anything of that nature.
Speaker B:And so the spoilage hasn't really been there.
Speaker B:So I got to watch it through a clean lens.
Speaker B:Yeah, Yeah, I, I enjoyed it.
Speaker B:It was great.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker A:I should rate it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:My movie, I don't think anybody's gonna be surprised I'm giving this movie A5.
Speaker A:Even though there are some things that I think are tweakable, I think even in, in its current form to me is like, again, it's one of the best movies in my opinion, period.
Speaker A:Like, and this is a movie that I'll watch anytime.
Speaker A:I never get bored with it because no matter if I know what's going on, when acting and story is this good, I'll watch it because it's interesting.
Speaker A:And like I said, I pick up on little things.
Speaker A: een watching this movie since: Speaker A:And I still to this day pick up on things that I didn't catch before or little, you know, tie togethers that I didn't see.
Speaker A:And it's just amazing the stuff that you can pick up.
Speaker A:So the subtlety of the acting and then you know the depth of the story, and it's just.
Speaker A:It's just so good to me.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:As soon as Thriller was like, I was like, oh, yeah, this is.
Speaker A:This is going on this list right here.
Speaker A:And it's an exact juxtaposition of.
Speaker A:Of the next movie that I picked for the end of it.
Speaker A:But, like.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's one of my favorites.
Speaker A:Five for me.
Speaker A:Watch it anytime, no questions asked.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:I'm gonna give it four and a half for a lot of the same reasons.
Speaker B:This is one that I will be watching again, and I look forward to kind of picking apart the new hints, new Easter eggs and things of that nature.
Speaker B:The problem that I know I'm gonna get with it is also the, oh, I would have done this, or I would have done that, or I would have moved this, or this makes more sense and try and rewrite the story.
Speaker B:But it's a great story.
Speaker B:I think it's made.
Speaker B:I think the movie is made by Gabriel Brand.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:As being the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The distraction.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He's the guy you meet kind of first.
Speaker B:He's the guy that you're immediately drawn into.
Speaker B:He's got the charisma and everything else.
Speaker B:I think you put somebody else in there and you're not gonna have the same balance because they're gonna overpower and steal a show of someone like Tom Cruise.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Or they're not gonna do enough to distract.
Speaker B:And so you.
Speaker B:And he's.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:That perfect little sweet spot.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Where you're going back and forth the entire time.
Speaker B:Is it?
Speaker B:Isn't it?
Speaker B:Is it?
Speaker B:It's got to be him.
Speaker B:No, it can't be him.
Speaker B:But it surely has got to be him.
Speaker B:They wouldn't put him in this role if it wasn't him.
Speaker B:He'd be perfect for it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so there's enough going there that it's.
Speaker B:The rewatch ability is.
Speaker B:Is awesome.
Speaker B:And that's a great movie overall.
Speaker B:But I will give it a four and a half, and I will definitely be watching this again.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:All right, well, there it is.
Speaker A:The usual suspects.
Speaker A:Alec, tell me what they can find us when we're not trying to answer the question.
Speaker A:Who is Kaiser Soze?
Speaker B:Oh, happy to.
Speaker B:JJ.
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Speaker B:All one word.
Speaker B:With that I will kick it back to the Maharaja of mash, Jack Dunn's baby.
Speaker B:Oh jj.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Much appreciated.
Speaker A:Yeah, go check us out at all those places.
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Speaker B:Hasta la vista, baby.
Speaker A:Cinematic.
