25. The Usual Suspects (1995)

A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup.

Director: Bryan Singer

Writer: Christopher McQuarrie

Stars: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri

Story:
A deadly firefight and a fire aboard a ship docked in the San Pedro Bay leaves only two survivors: a Hungarian criminal named Arkos Kovaz hospitalized from severe burns, and a small-time con artist, Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), a disabled and weak person. Separately, FBI agent Jack Baer (Giancarlo Esposito) and Customs agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) arrive in San Pedro, lured by reports of a large cocaine shipment, and Kujan's personal vendetta against Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), a formerly corrupt police officer who has since given up his life of crime but who was supposedly involved in the massacre. While Baer is at the hospital attempting to get security for Kovaz, Kovaz begins yelling in Hungarian, and mentions the name Keyser Söze, which stops and stuns Baer. As Verbal later explains, Söze has a near mythical and vengeful reputation, having killed his own family when they were held hostage by a Hungarian gang and then killing all but one of the gang members before disappearing underground, keeping his true identity secret by insulating himself from his agents, who usually do not know for whom they are working.

While Baer works with an interpreter to gain Kovaz's description of Söze, Kujan uses a messy office in the local police station to interrogate Verbal. Verbal's story, told in flashback, begins six weeks earlier, when he and four others were rounded up by the New York City police as suspects in a gun shipment robbery. The other four are Keaton; Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), a professional thief; Fred Fenster (Benicio del Toro), McManus' partner who speaks in mangled English; and Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), a hijacker. While in a holding cell, McManus convinces the others to get back at the police by intercepting a smuggler being escorted by corrupt cops and stealing his stash. After this job goes well, the five go to Los Angeles and fence the stolen goods with Redfoot (Peter Greene), McManus' contact. Redfoot identifies another lucrative potential smuggling operation. The five accept and pull off the heist but find out the shipment was of heroin, not jewelry as they thought. In an angry confrontation with Redfoot, he reveals the job was set up by a lawyer named Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite).

The group is later approached by Kobayashi, who says he is working for Söze. Kobayashi possesses extensive details about the five's criminal past and how each of them had slighted Söze at some point even without knowing it. He continues that Söze will consider their actions repaid if they destroy $91 million worth of cocaine being sold by Argentinians to a Hungarian gang, allowing them to keep the cash being used in the deal; if the five refuse, Söze will kill their friends and families.

Overnight, Fenster bails on the group; the remaining four find his body the next day at a location Kobayashi provides. They attempt to assert control of the situation by assassinating Kobayashi at his offices, but Kobayashi reveals that Edie Finneran (Suzy Amis), Keaton's lawyer and girlfriend, is in Kobayashi's offices on legal matters, and she will be killed if they do not complete the job. Kobayashi twists their arms further by threatening them and their families with untold mayhem, Söze's calling cards. With no choice, the others set out on the plan. As the deal starts, Keaton tells Verbal to stay back and should the plan fail to take the money to Edie, who will help him. Keaton and the others kill the Argentinians and the Hungarians, and then he and McManus clear the boat looking for the drugs but find none. McManus, Hockney and a man locked aboard the ship are killed by a person whose face is never seen. While Verbal looks on, this person kills Keaton and sets the boat on fire. Verbal has come to believe the mysterious man was Söze himself.

Verbal concludes his story, but Kujan does not believe it, insisting that Keaton must be Söze, as the man aboard the boat was Arturo Marquez, a drug dealer who escaped prosecution by claiming he could identify Söze. Kujan claims that the Argentinians were selling Marquez to Söze's rival Hungarian gang and Keaton used the heist as a distraction to let him kill Marquez. Kujan also informs Verbal that Edie has been killed, murdered in a Pennsylvania motel room. Verbal tearfully testifies that the entire plan was Keaton's idea and then refuses to say more. Verbal's bond is posted and he leaves. Kujan, thinking about Verbal's story, starts to recognize that several names and concepts from the story match up with papers and other details scattered through the messy office, such as the names "Redfoot" and "Kobayashi". This makes Kujan realize that nearly the entire background to the story was a fabrication created by Verbal, who is now revealed to be the real Keyser Söze.

Kujan races to try to stop Verbal but he is too late. Outside the station, Verbal drops his limp and gets into a car driven by "Kobayashi". The film ends on a quote of Charles Baudelaire[6] which Verbal used to describe Söze: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.