History Headscratchers / TheUsualSuspects

* So who killed Edie?

* So who killed Edie?

*** Some of the boat stuff takes place after Kujan's "I'll tell you what I know. Stop me when this sounds familiar..." line, which suggests that some of the boat stuff might be guesses by Kujan about the lack of cocaine, the killing or Marquez, etc. In general, I just assume that Verbal and Kujan are just telling guesses bits of information they know, and guesses about what was happening based on what verbal was hearing, and the finer details are being filled in as a movie convention. (Either way, Kujan comes across as someone who would catch obvious oddities in a story pretty quickly, so presumably verbal isn't actually describing details he would have no way of knowing, as Kujan would probably notice pretty quickly.)

** I think most people were referring to the end of the film when they say that. How could Kint know how each of the members died? I mean sure he saw Keaton get shot (in his story anyway) but how did he know that Mcmanus died with a knife in his neck? How did he know that there was no dope on the boat when he was on the dock faraway from the other members ? I think people had these questions in mind when saying that theory.

* Why does the DVD menu give away the surprise ending? Is this because ItWasHisSled?
** Well, we gave it away here. Did you expect them to keep it a secret after they had your money?

** Remember Kint is an UnreliableNarrator. We don't actually know how much he says is true. Kujan knows about the lineup. But we don't even know if the gang was involved in the Taxi Service job or Saul Berg's murder, or if Kint is just taking credit. Nobody who is alive knows what "Kobayashi" said to them or who he really was. Even the fence "Redfoot" may or may not exist. They know that there was $91 million in cash at the dock, supposedly to buy cocaine that was never there. All that Kujan really knows for sure is that five guys were arrested for a hijacking in New York, released, and then six weeks later four of them turn up dead in California or go missing, and Kint is the only known survivor.

** Remember Kint is an UnreliableNarrator. We don't actually know how much he says is true. Kujan knows about the lineup. But we don't even know if the gang was involved in the Taxi Service job or Saul Berg's murder, or if Kint is just taking credit. Nobody who is alive knows what "Kobayashi" said to them or who he really was. Even the fence "Redfoot" may or may not exist. They know that there was $91 million in cash at the dock, supposedly to buy cocaine that was never there. All that Kujan really knows for sure is that five guys were arrested for a hijacking in New York, released, and then six months later four of them turn up dead in California or go missing, and Kint is the only known survivor.

** I think most people were referring to the end of the film when they say that. How could Kint know how each of the members died? I mean sure he saw Keaton get shot (in his story anyway) but how did he know that Mcmanson died with a knife in his neck? How did he know that there was no dope on the boat when he was on the dock faraway from the other members ? I think people had these questions in mind when saying that theory.

** Keyser Söze is legend of the underworld. But if he is real and he has as much influence and enterprise as Kobayashi said he does (Guns to Belfast, materials for a nuclear reactor in Pakistan, etc), then killing him would not only garner the Hungarians a lot of clout within organized crime, it would open up a lot of territory for them to take over. That can be worth $91 million.

* Isn't this entire movie, with the SOLE EXCEPTION of the police office setting and the concluding Kevin Spacey strut, a complete and utter fabrication, and thus not even REAL? The entire hour and a half is complete fiction, a tale spun by the Kevin Spacey character. Once the plot twist is revealed, it makes me feel like I have to erase the entire movie from my head, because I have just been told that it was FAKE. How are we supposed to know if ANYTHING from those scenes is real? Anything. Period. It's worse than watching paint dry for an hour and a half, because once the paint is dry, you at least KNOW that you watched-- from beginning to end, from sopping to solid-- all the paint on the wall transform into a protective and pleasant coat. I loved this movie until the end, at which point I "THE OPPOSITE OF LOVED" it. I wish that I could just erase this entire deception from existence.
** Even within the context of the movie, there are some things which unarguably happened. The "New York's Finest Taxi" scandal, the murder of the jewelry appraiser, Keaton's lawyer/girlfriend being summoned to Los Angeles, those can all be easily verified by the police listening in the next room. The accuracy of the stuff Verbal tells Kujan is unknown, but I think that's one of the high points of the film -- discovering how the helpless coward Verbal Kint easily outwitted the egotistical blowhard Dave Kujan.
*** Finneran's subsequent murder also happens, as confirmed by Kujan.
** Does it really make that much of a difference if the film is a story told by Verbal Kint as opposed to one told by Brian Singer? If fiction isn't your thing, this website probably isn't for you.
** Newsflash: Troper discovers things shown in a movie did not actually happen. [[StealthPun Famous]] [[SherlockHolmes fictional detective]] [[ExpospeakGag reports constipation.]] FilmAtEleven.
** We don't know precisely how much was actually made up. Wasn't Kaiser Soze an actual legend outside of the story? Wasn't the Hungarian guy who knew who he was for real? Wasn't that person who was working for him real? We did see him in the car with Verbal at the end after all. Much was made up on the spot, yes, but he did mix in some truth.
** Look it at this way. The movie is a story about Verbal telling you a story. It's not a movie that's trying to tell you a story directly.
** The first scene of the movie (with the unseen Keyser Soze killing Keaton and setting fire to the ship) is ''not'' structured as part of the story Verbal is telling, so that part is presumably true, too.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!

** We don't know precisely how much was actually made up. Wasn't Kaiser Soze an actual legend outside of the story? Wasn't the Hungarian guy who knew who he was for real? Wasn't that person who was working for him real? We did see him in the card with Verbal at the end after all. Much was made up on the spot, yes, but he did mix in some truth.

****** I believe Verbal didn't plan to mention Keyser Soze at all. He'd just slam together a story he thought would fit what the police knew, and then be done with it. However, once he found out that they knew that Keyser Soze was somehow involved, he '''had''' to stick more or less to the truth about the incident. That the police knew of Keyser Soze told him that they had an eye witness, and then it was only a matter of time before they could arrest him. Realizing this, Verbal continued his story with Keyser Soze as the great architect behind it all, and in a way so his "friend" (name escapes me right now) would be believed to be Mr. Soze .

* To steal one from Cracked why does the most powerful criminal in the world--a man who people are willing to pay millions of dollars to have described to them--drop dozens of potentially incriminating clues while waiting to post bail on a relatively minor weapons charge?

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** Plastic surgery doesn't work the way you think it does. And hired assassins still leave a link to the man. Ultimately, he wanted no links at all to connect one to the other. He wanted to remain a myth not be just a guy with a lot of money.

****** I believe Verbal didn't plan to mention Keyser Söze at all. He'd just slam together a story he thought would fit what the police knew, and then be done with it. However, once he found out that they knew that Keyser Söze was somehow involved, he '''had''' to stick more or less to the truth about the incident. That the police knew of Keyser Söze told him that they had an eye witness, and then it was only a matter of time before they could arrest him. Realizing this, Verbal continued his story with Keyser Söze as the great architect behind it all, and in a way so his "friend" (name escapes me right now) would be believed to be mr. Söze.

***** Yes but that could be because he had heard stories about Keyser Söze. On the other hand, the guy who could identify him was well protected, so either the Hungarian mob believed the stories or they where at least partially true.