The Usual Suspects

FIVE CRIMINALS. ONE LINE UP. NO COINCIDENCE. Amidst the wave of neo-noir thrillers that swept American cinema in the 1990s, few films made as much impact as The Usual Suspects, which revolutionised the genre, won two Academy Awards and is still regarded as one of the greatest crime films ever made. After a brutal massacre on a cargo ship off the coast of Los Angeles leaves 27 men dead, Special Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) interrogates one of the only two survivors, small-time con artist Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey). During the interview, Kint tells Kujan of how he was recruited by the fearsome crime lord Keyser Söze to commit a series of daring heists with four other crooked misfits: Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), Mike McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Fred Fenster (Benicio del Toro) and Todd Hockey (Kevin Pollak). But as Kint's account of the events leading up to the massacre becomes more convoluted, Kujan becomes increasingly sceptical and determined to discover the identity of the elusive Keyser Söze. With an unforgettably twisty and tightly written Oscar-winning script by Christopher McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects is an unmissable entry in the canon of American indie cinema.