"Now, HE'S holding a gun sideways." That's the best comment I've heard in quite a while, and it didn't come from any script; she said it. This lady is a smart cookie.
I worked with Gabriel Byrne on a western in Montana last year, I drove him into town and we talked about random stuff. When I brought him back to his place the other production assistant picked me up, when I left I knocked on his door and said, "Ok Mr Byrne I'm taking off", he said, "Ok Red ill see u on set". I said, "I almost called u Keyser Soze earlier", he started laughing and from then on he wanted me to drive him to set everyday. It was great
There is hints all throughout the movie Soze is verbal - - The wristwatch and cigarette lighter Soze is seen with in the beginning is given back to Verbal when he's leaving the station. - Verbal mentions how his urine comes out thicker than normal due to a condition, Soze's urine is shown as overly thick. - Verbal is shown multiple times smoking his cigarette's in the unique way Soze does between his finger tip and his thumb which is unusual to everyone else in the movie but common in Turkey (Soze's home country). - It cuts straight to Verbal when characters ask things like who is Keyser Soze? or just mention his name, countless times. - Soze means "talk too much" in Turkish and he is called Verbal, in fact Soze translates to "King Talks too much" it's like the word Verbose in English. - Verbal messes up on a couple of occasions in the office and takes things with his "disabled" hand or moves a part he's not supposed to be able too and very quickly corrects himself. - You can see when he's sitting alone in the office at the beginning he is clearly reading off the board and making up the story right there and then before Kujan gets there. - As soon as Kujan asks about "the lawyer" he's standing over Verbal and drinking just before you go into his story you can see Verbal staring at the bottom of Kujans Coffee mug and reading the name Kobayashi off the bottom. - There's a close up of Verbal starting to smirk when Kujan is lecturing and walking behind him because he sees he's falling right into his trap of thinking it is Keaton and then as soon as Kujan comes around he hides it and goes right back into character. - When Keaton asks what language the guys on the boat are speaking, nobody knows but then Verbal responds "It's Hungarian". - The movie straight up tells you through dialogue Verbal is Soze. When Kujan throws Verbal to the ground, yelling "who killed Keaton?" Verbal accidently slips up and says "I killed Keaton" this was of course after seeing and establishing Soze did it, the filmmaker's were relying on the fact the audience like Kujan wouldn't notice with all Kujans yelling but it's very clearly said. Another cool little detail is at the end whenever Kujan is sitting down with the coffee mug, his colleague and him share what seems to be meaningless banter If you listen closely it's a metaphor for what's about to happen with the board, he's saying things like "it all makes sense you look at it right, you just got to stand back from it y'know?" which doesn't even make sense in response to Kujans comment which was calling him a slob for his messy desk.
There's a scene where Palminteri is berating Spacey, but while he has his back turned, Spacey breaks into a totally inappropriate smile that disappears the instant Palminteri turns around. It's very fast, and I remember it throwing me off the first time I saw this movie- until it made 100% sense at the end.
The line-up scene when they read the statement is one of the greatest improvised scenes in film. The actors we all trying to make each other laugh. It made the director furious. Such an iconic scene. Also, 1995 is a phenomenal year for crime films: The Usual Suspects, Se7en, Heat, Casino, La Haine, etc.
I think it’s great that even Gabriel Byrne thought he was Kaiser Soze until the premiere. Also the cigarette flick by Redfoot at the face, in the script and direction it was supposed to be at his chest and he missed, hitting his face. The surprised reaction was real.
The whole theater lost it at the end. If anyone figured it out before, they kept it to themselves. Still a great movie, I love seeing first time watchers.
My friend, Christopher McQuarrie and I drove from New Jersey to Los Angeles in 1991. We would always hang out together and I remember him telling me the most amazing story ideas while we drove the streets of Los Angeles. He would talk and talk and he'd always keep me engaged. His storytelling techniques were truly amazing. I'll never forget those late-night drives just talking and laughing and going to cheap eateries with friends. Good times indeed. The first project we worked on was a film called Public Access. It was written by Chris, I was part of the camera department and it was directed by Bryan Singer. A real jumping-off point for their next project. I saw an early screening of 'Suspects' and afterward, I gave Chris a congratulatory kiss and told him that his life will never be the same. As an editor, I briefly worked in the Hollywood system, but later decided that it wasn't for me. Chris is now the right-hand man for Tom Cruise, writing and directing the most successful films of his career. We still keep in touch. Very proud of my friend. True story.
The Way of the Gun is a classic. I'd love to see reactors react to that one. He's one of my favorite filmmakers. Edge of Tomorrow and Jack the Giant Slayer were also great.
I do think the Hungarian connection is true. One of the times I rewatched and was looking for the clues, I noticed when they were preparing to attack at the ship one of the other guys wondered out loud what language was being spoken. Kevin Spacey replied Hungarian. That’s not a common language, and it’s not a language most of us would recognize…unless we knew it 😉
@@coxmosia1 hard to even guess. Because of the way we see the story, we don't know which events actually happened, aside from parts of the ship attack and the lineup at the beginning. So, for example, we know there wasn't a lawyer named Kobayashi who set them up. But was the name fake while there was a real lawyer behind the story, or were they set up an entirely different way? We don't even know the name Soze even came up in the real middle of the events
@@zammmerjammer True, but I was thinking way before the attack on the ship. Like after Keyser shot that dude in the car with such precision and disgust. Keaton should have paid attention to that more closely. Also, at the dock, when Keyser asked him what language they were speaking, Keaton didn't take notice that Verbal knew what language they were speaking.
Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollack were also in my biggest guilty pleasure movie, “End of Days”. The priest in the movie even said, “Satan’s greatest trick was convincing man he he didn’t exist.”
Imagine the self confidence/arrogance of Soze. He doesn't even bother to come up with his alibi as Verbal ahead of time. Just off the cuff, while talking with the cop.... that is crazy to me.
Really appreciate how honest you both are in regards to whether you've seen a movie before and/or how aware you are of certain plot developments. I also enjoy how in-depth your discussions are afterwards. So many reaction channels watch a movie, give some generic remarks for a minute or two, and then end the video there. I get a big kick out of how you both really dig into what you did and didn't like about each movie and how you were feeling in certain moments. Good stuff! Also, fun fact: This was written by Christopher McQuarrie, the director of the last few Mission Impossible movies.
Samantha not knowing anything about the movie was so smart on how she was following everything. I was much rooting for her and even thought at one point she was going to figure it or at least take a guess of Verbal out before the reveal. I recommended this movie a couple times. Glad you finally got to it.
The greatest reveal of all time. Right up there with "The Sixth Sense," "Memento" and "Psycho." All from last century, when film making was still an art form.
You two are by far my FAVORITE movie reactors on RU-vid! Honest reactions and comments. Insightful discussion afterwards. Thank you for sharing. By the way, look at the end again when he's in the car holding his cigarette. It's a definite tell.
Looking back at 1995, this film and Seven came out in the same month as this film. The Usual Suspects came out first. I don’t know how many people experienced this but it must have been something seeing Kevin Spacey in this film, getting blown away by the twist and then seeing Seven right after that. He’s in both films and Seven has a reveal/entrance that involves Spacey that’s pretty memorable and awesome. Even more so if one had just seen The Usual Suspects. One could kind of do that now but it must’ve been crazy/thrilling to see this film and then Seven in the theater back in the day.
I saw Seven on opening day. What a devastating experience. I enjoyed Suspects as well, but I couldn't help but think that there was one more surprise coming before the end. Ta da..
Söze in hungarian comes from the expression "söze boğmak", meaning basically talk too much, like Verbal says he does. The cigarette hitting Baldwin in the eye was an accident, but they kept the shot, since it looked really authentic. Rewatch the scene when Spacy walks in the interrogation room...he looks at the board intently.
Guys you really need to watch ( Donnie Brasco 1997) Al Pacino & Johnny Depp,,, is one of the most underrated mobster movies ever! and one of my favorites! actually is a top 3 mob movies in my opinion
Fun fact: Throughout the entirety of filming, Gabriel Byrne (Keaton) thought his character was Keyser Soze. He did not discover that he wasn't until he attended the movie premiere.
After seeing Benicio Del Toro in this role, you have to see him 3 years later in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, alongside Johnny Depp. He's almost unrecognizable.
The lawyer, Kobayashi, not his real name of course, sat in the car which Verbal entered in the end. The man who could identify Söze was the one who was in the house when Söze shot his own family. He used him to spread rumours about how cruel he could be but now he wanted him dead. The detective was so obsessed by getting Keaton hanged up on this so he tried to make Verbal admit that Keaton was Keyzer Söze. Keaton loved Edie Finneran, Verbal/Söze had her killed. No loose ends.
One of the best twists of an ending ever. Love your channel guys!! Please react to “American Beauty”, it won Best Picture in 1999 and Kevin Spacey won Best Actor for his role. One of my all time favorites.
Great movie. The one issue, is that Keyser's whole reason for doing all of this was to take out the guy that could ID him(knew what he looked like), yet still by the end, now soooo many more people can ID him.
All they have is a mythical name and some mug shots of a fake persona. The Hungarian knew more than just what he looked like. Now the only people alive who know what he looked like are cops who don't know anything more about him than what Soze said about himself, of which none was true.
So glad you reacted to this very good film. I have several films to recommend to submit to your patrons to vote on: 1) "The Killing Fields" (1984 War film)- based on the true experience of 2 journalists during the Khmer Rouge regime. Nominated for 3 Oscars, Haing S. Ngor won for Best Supporting Actor. In 1999 the British Film Institute voted The Killing Fields the 100th greatest British film of the 20th century. In 2016 British film magazine Empire ranked it number 86 in their list of the 100 best British films 2) "The French Connection" (1970 crime action thriller film)- Among its 8 Oscar nominations, it won for Best Film and Best Actor (Gene Hackman). In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" 3) The Wild Bunch (1969 Western)- In 1999, the Library of Congress selected this film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant". It was ranked 80th in the American Film Institute's 100 best American films. In 2008, the AFI listed 10 best films in 10 genres and ranked The Wild Bunch as the SIXTH-BEST Western. This film was considered revolutionary because it departed from the romanticized view of the cowboys(e.g., Gene Autry, etc.)
Definitely Wild Bunch. Before I saw "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood", I read a book on the making of "Bunch" because 1) I like the film and 2) "Bunch" came out in 1969, the same year "Hollywood" takes place.
Add to the list of fantastic twist crime flicks 1982’s “DeathTrap”. Michael Caine, Dyan Cannon, and Superman himself Christopher Reeve in a head bending stage play put to film. I have a feeling you’ll dig it.
Al Pacino was supposed to be the cop/detective interviewing Spacey, but he passed on the movie and he says it was the biggest mistake of his career. Also, McManus (Baldwin) was originally offered to Michael Biehn (Terminator/Aliens) but he turned it down because he didn't "get it" and chose to do the movie Jade instead... an admitted mistake
FYI, that part of the lineup scene where they crack up and Fenster and McManus are hitting each other wasn't scripted. It happened because Benicio del Toro kept farting and the actors couldn't hold it together... They used the footage in the movie because it happened to work really well as part of the introduction of the characters.
My friends and I were 19 years old when this movie was out. We had no clue what the movie was about or who was in it, we were bored and wandered into a movie in the middle of a weekday. Let’s just say by the end of the film we were all sitting there with our mouths hanging open. As amazing as this film is, in 1995 it was just completely unheard of. At that point it was probably the greatest twist ending of all time. Great review.
This is one of my favourite movies. That ending where you think you've got it figured out, and then they turn the whole thing on its head is just perfect!
There's three really important clues in the very first scene: Keaton clearly reacts with recognition at Keyser Soze, we see that Soze has a gold watch and lighter, which are returned to Verbal after he makes bail, and the fact that there is clearly no one peering through the ropes, because of course Verbal was never actually hiding there. This is one of my all-time favorites, and even after you know the twist, it really rewards repeat viewings. When agent Kujan first starts to show his suspicion of Keaton near the start of the interrogation, we see a close-up profile of Verbal as he cracks a tiny smile, as he'd figured out how to play the detective in order to get away.
0:50 I appreciate that you didn't pretend to have never seen it, then just so happen to make astute observations right before they happen in the movie.
This is a remote-dropper. Anytime this is on, I will drop the remote and watch it, no matter what part of the movie it is. It gets better every time you watch it. One of the best twists in cinematic history. All the actors do such a great job.
GReat reaction Sam and Daniel. Agent Kujan versus Verbal Kint. The Usual Suspects is the classic flim noir murder mystery chess match. Verbal’s improvised story in the police interrogation was so brilliant that you have to question the reality of everything you saw in the movie. The writers managed to create a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in an enigma. I love it so much.
What’s better than watching this movie is watching someone else watch and seeing the realization cross their face at the end. Still gives me a chill in the best way.
Yes, all the stories about Keyser Soze were true. In fact, if you watch it again, look at Kevin Spacey's eyes and face when he's telling the story of Soze's family. You can see he's not just telling a story but he's remembering the event. He looks very emotional when talking about it. Great acting by Spacey and he won best supporting actor as well.
Really? Was it Spacey's eyes or Spacey doing Verbal's eyes? The comment about his acting ability kind of undercuts your opinion. You can't say definitively.
I thought the story was partially true and perhaps not that long before the movie. Why go after one guy who could identify you if this operation would still "out" you? Because it was the Hungarians he went there for, not the one man. I always believed he went there to get those he missed after his family was killed, and they were all there on the boat. His final act of retribution before disappearing.
@@briancoburn9556 -- When you are talking about a story you heard from a person who lied about everything, you would have to be a fool to say that with absolute certainty. Absolutely nothing Verbal told us has any supporting evidence.
Some suggestions of the people involved: director Bryan Singer: X-Men (2000), X2 (2003) Fenster - Benicio del Toro: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Snatch (2000) Kobayashi - Pete Postlethwaite: Romeo+Juliet (1996), Amistad (1997) Keaton - Gabriel Byrne: Smillas Sense of Snow (1997), End of Days (1999) McManus - Stephen Baldwin: Posse (1993) Hockney - Kevin Pollack: The whole ten yards (2003), End of Days (1999) And yes, End of Days is also a Schwarzenegger movie you still missed out on. So, what you're waiting for?
Usually there is a general hubbub in the auditorium as you leave the cinema after a movie. I distinctly remember there was none of that with this as people came out trying to work out what they had just witnessed. No internet - as such - back then, no social media so no spoilers, we all came into it on the same page. And we all left stunned.
This is a great movie to watch a second time and focus specifically on Verbal. There are a lot of line reads, expressions, and blocking choices that can be read two ways, depending on whether or not you know the end of the movie.
Oh man! That's CRIMINAL that TBR knew the big reveal at the end of the movie, but hadn't seen the movie!! That makes me sad for him! Glad he still apparently really enjoyed it though. This is really a great film. Great reaction, as usual.
The great thing about this ending is that it doesn't even matter whether you guess it or not. In fact, most people who watch at some point during the movie guess the correct ending. It doesn't matter though, it's more the way it's revealed (the wall, coffee cup, losing his limp, the soundtrack, agent Kujan realizing he got played) that makes it so great. Best twist ending of all time imo. Without the ending this would just be a solid Tarantino style 90's heist/caper film that few would remember. Because of the ending it is an iconic movie and a favorite of millenial youtube reactors.
But appearing as a cripple made everyone underestimate Verbal. All the criminals underestimated him, which allowed him to kill them easy since they didn't see him as a threat. The police underestimated him so they never thought of him as Kaiser. They were blinded by Keaten. He even says that "he's smarter" than Verbal. So underestimating Verbal allows him to get over. If he wasn't stupid and a cripple they'd have been more suspicious of him from the jump. Wouldn't have trusted anything he said. Intead they believed every word.
As for the questions at the end: getting "caught" for Verbal/Keyzer Soze meant : 1:) seemingly giving police what they want: police knowing that Verbal was part of that group would have searched for him anyways, and this way they realeased him without knowing who he really was. (to his knowledge) 2) to find out at the source if anyone survived (if he missed someone on the ship) 3) find out what police knows about the whole thing and about Keyser Soze and bring them onto a wrong lead. You have to take into consideration that he missed one of these goals (if i remember correct): he did miss to find out that one guy survived and was able to describe him. So The person drawing, the guy putting it into the fax machine and agent Kuyan have a chance to survive. (Unless he finds out that they know how he looks like.) Edit: my favorite thing in this movie is that it highlights the old saying of "never underestimate your opponent". Agen Kuyan is bold, downtalked Verbal, belittled him, thought himself to be outsmarting him and vastly overestimated his own capabilities and gets the bil for it at the end.
This was a fantastic movie, and I am happy to see your reactions to this legendary classic. It's a real treat and one of the great mind trips in cinema history.
My mom called this movie in the first 20 minutes. I couldn't believe it. Fortunately, it was my second time watching it so she didn't spoil it for me and ruin our relationship forever. 😄
I was suspicious near the end when Spacey and the agent agreed that Keaton was the master criminal. Similar to Primal Fear, I thought that there had to be one more big revelation at the end, since the movie clearly wasn't over yet! I had a similar situation to you when I saw another Kevin Spacey film. I watched that last five minutes of The Life Of David Gale first, where there is a big reveal...and not having seen the rest of the movie, I didn't understand what the reveal meant. I then watched it from the beginning and tried putting it all together in my head before the ending came. Christopher McQuarrie wrote this screenplay, and has since gone on to direct Jack Reacher and several of the Mission Impossible movies. Clever dude. I'd love to recommend more movies with great surprises...but then, you'd be expecting the surprises if you watched them! Really enjoyed your reactions to Primal Fear and this one.
GReat reaction Sam and Daniel. What an amazing film, I’ve seen it about 20 times and every time I see something I didn’t notice before. To really be appreciated, movies like this should be watched at least twice, and with friends. Theories, twists and realizations come bubbling to the surface the more you watch a mystery noir such as "THe Usual SUspects.
The only things we know for certain are what law enforcement already knows and can corroborate with other sources, and what is shown to us after the reveal: The lineup happened, the robbery of "New York's Finest Taxi Service" happened, Edie is dead, the gunfight and the explosion on the dock happened, three of the five from the lineup were killed at the scene, and the one Hungarian who survived indentified Verbal as an operative or leader of the criminal entity known as "Keyser Soze." Did they ever find Fenster's body? He might be alive somewhere but most likely isn't. Verbal has at least one accomplice who may or may not be a lawyer and most certainly is not named "Kobayashi." We assume Verbal is the boss or senior member of the two, but Not-Kobayashi may be the leader and Verbal could be his operative or apprentice or they could be equal partners or even work for someone else entirely. He ultimately fails. The entire endeavor was about killing the Argentinian snitch and one of the Hungarians saw his face and survived long enough to give his description to the sketch artist. Even without the sketch, Kujan figured it out. The "Verbal Kint" identity is burned the authorities know his face. He will have to go underground and limit his activity to only that which he can do off-grid, or get plastic surgery or something. His prints and DNA are probably in the system. The origin story may or may not be true. If it is true it may not be about Verbal. "Keyser Soze" appears to be a two-man cell, they may by like Sith Lords or The Dread Pirate Roberts in that they periodically find a new protege when one wants to retire (or wants to "retire" the other). Verbal or Not-Kobayashi may have inherited the mantle from the original Keyser Soze, or it may have been passed down multiple times first. Or maybe it was an urban legend that was already popular in the criminal underworld and they're just two slick con artists who took advantage of it. (A bold move, if it turns out he's real, he probably wouldn't be too happy that someone was running around claiming to be him). Or maybe Keyser Soze is someone else entirely that the two of them work for, perhaps blackmailed and extorted into working for him the exact same way they got the guys in the lineup to work for them. Or maybe they are part of a larger network or organization. I like to think the origin story is true about somebody (If not Verbal than his boss or mentor or some uber-boss or mentor from the past) because the level of willpower, genius, and ruthlessness they showed sounds like it would need an origin that extreme.
He was caught on purpose. The whole charade throughout the movie was so he could get the cops to come to the conclusion on their own that Keaton was Keyser Soze. With Keaton dead for real and everyone convinced that Keaton was Keyser, Verbal (the real Keyser) could disappear and nobody would even look for him. I always felt like his plan failed, though. The movie makes it seem like he "won" but Kujan figured it out and they have a sketch of him.
Do you remember, in Cobra Kai, Robbie breaks Sam out of a grounding to go to a beach party by pulling "a Keyser Soze" and pretending he hurt his ankle skateboarding.
Another great review TBR and Sam and here just a little tidbit during the line of scene when you hear an officer is saying that telling the Finster in English, that was actually the Director of the movie 39:27
I love this movie, and glad you could enjoy it. One thing is when they showed Soze with long hair that was years before. but this movie with the twist ending is so great, the story was great, everythign was done so well!! thanks for letting us watch this with you.
Doesn't even matter that you knew the twist as far as reactions go lol, always wanted to see someone rewatch this cause it's amazing even on a 15th rewatch lol
My favorite part of this movie is how Keyser uses the police hatred of Keaton against them. He leads them into the conclusion that they make that Keaton is Keyser. It's a masterclass in manipulation. He empowers them and puts them in what they think is control. He lets them put together the pieces he throws out rather than telling them exactly what he wants them to think. They need to earn it to believe it, and Keyser gives them (and the audience) an interesting and very fictional story to piece together. Instead of asking objective questions, they formed a theory and Keyser exploits them. It's a movie that I don't think will ever age, because it's built on human behavior.
The one HUGE flaw in this movie for me is that at the beginning, Brian singer chose NOT to disguise Kevin Spacey's voice. He was trying to half whisper, but I have a pretty sharp ear. I'm one of those people that can listen to a commercial and name an obscure actor doing the voiceover work. Whether it's Josh Lucas doing an a for Home Depot, or John Cusack doing an ad for Chevrolet, or Rashida Jones doing Southwest Airlines ads...I am very good at picking up voices. And at the beginning, I recognized Spacey's voice and even told my date, "hey, that's Kevin Spacey" as we munched on popcorn." Sadly I spoiled the movie for her. Sorry again, Natalie, if you ever read this! lol
Glad you liked it! 👍 Yeah, whoever wrote this did his studying.. As crime story admirer, myself, I remember... - Pablo Escobar did a Washington DC tour with his family. So the though of a eastern european crime boss, titled Kaiser, would be able to plant himself as just another criminal at the crime scene, was believable. Speaking of plant: The Chambers Brothers, cocaine dealing family, used to dress as the workers that were cooking the drugs. The would get arrested by local PD or DEA with the workers, leaving the law to believe the bosses got away. - It's always been a rarity when some criminal, even a mastermind, get immunity and still jerks the chain of other law enforcement, even the ones that want feel positive the bad guy that they knew was actually dead, and such and such. But in this story, it went well. - Speaking of masterminds, most stories that have the characters as tools to a bigger plan, are in espionage stories. The writings of such a scenario done with thieves and killers, in a cop/murder mystery, once again, was nicely done. 👌 Keep on keeping on, you two!!! You're still the best to watch, cause you're not doing what every other couple's reaction is doing. Bicker. Take care! You're great! Take care! 😊
