The Usual Suspects in 33 seconds/Reaction

This movie is a terrific physiological thriller with one of the best twists I’ve seen in a long time. There is just one problem. I saw this movie about 10 years too late. I’m sure when Kevin Spacey was a fairly unknown actor this movie really left many who viewed it with their jaws dropped and that utter look of WTF just happened here. As a matter of fact, when I viewed it with my classmates some still had this plastered look of “Damn, I thought I had it” on their faces. I, on the other hand, knew it was Kevin Spacey from the beginning. Now please, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to sound like some pretentious film snob who goes around acting like he knows every movie plot before it’s ever put on paper because this just isn’t the case. I thought the movie was well done and all the actors in it did a phenomenal job. The plot started off simple enough, but only in the end could one truly appreciate the complexities of this movie. We are left wondering many things such as: Who really is Keyser Soza? Was Hockney planning on skipping out alone with the loot? What in the flying fuck was Benicio Del Toro saying and why did I find it so damn funny?
The ethos of Kint is being built from the moment we see him being interrogated by agent Kujan. The whole movie sets us up like the sentimental saps we are and we fall for it hook, line, and sinker. First let’s start with the fact that Kint has cerebral palsy. It’s kind of hard to start off with yea that’s the guy who killed all those people, the slow guy with the limp. Then we throw on the fact that this guy will ramble on about anything and everything, so immediately we as the audience think that there is no way in hell blabber mouth here could keep a secret so once again, we trust him with open arms. Finally we are made to believe that Kint is nothing more than a scarred little two bit criminal who has bitten up way more than he can chew and now is caught up in this dark world he has no business being a part of. As a matter of fact, when he is crying on his knees in front of agent Kujan the audience now feels that Kint is a representation of the everyday man in the story.
In short, Kint represents us. And Kujan is more of the higher up authority figure who always comes down hard on us, tells us what to do, and thrives on the intimidation of the common man. But the fact of the matter is that this is all one big farce. Kint is nothing like us. Kint is the master manipulator. He is the deceptive narrator that all those Edger Allen Poe stories spoke of, and yet we did not learn our lesson. So we are left in wonderment of how we could have been so easily deceived. It appears to be obvious in retrospect that Kint is the one behind it all. The foreshadowing is told through parallels of the devil and the power of myths over reality. How could we be so blind? This is why the movie is so well done. It’s a twisted and complicated plot, yet once it is revealed it all seems so simple.
So how is it that I knew in advance that Kint was the puppeteer pulling everyone’s strings? It’s quite simple. It has nothing to do with a keen sense of plot development. It’s FUCKING KEVIN SPACEY. This is the same man who has played the character that has brought down superman, defended racist bigots, decapitated Brad Pitt’s wife and gave it to him as a present, not to mention, the only man to my knowledge to ever audit Santa Clause. I mean Keyser Soza is nothing compared to the ass who audits Santa… Have you no soul man?