http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyser_Soze
Keyser Soze (pronounced KAI-zer SOE-zay) is a fictional character
in the 1995 movie The Usual Suspects, written by Christopher
McQuarrie. In the film, Soze is an underworld kingpin whose
ruthlessness and influence have a legendary, even mythical status
among law enforcement agents and criminals alike. Soze is based on
murderer John List.
Contents [hide]
1 What little information is known
2 The great Keyser Soze revealed
3 Cultural impact
4 Meaning of name
5 Trivia
6 In media
7 External links
[edit]
What little information is known
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The following refers to Keyser Soze only as a fictional character
in the confines of the film he appeared in.
So mysterious that even his nationality is disputed, Soze allegedly
began his criminal career in Turkey as a low-level drug smuggler.
The entity that is Keyser Soze was truly born, however, when rival
smugglers working for the Hungarian Mafia invaded his house while
he wasn't at home, raping his wife, and holding his children
hostage, killing one of them when Soze arrived to show him they
were serious. They then threatened to kill his wife and remaining
children if he did not surrender his business to them. Soze's
response to this was perhaps the greatest of his legendary acts.
Rather than give in to their demands, he shot and killed his family
and all but one of the Hungarians, who he spared to spread word of
his ruthless nature.
After burying his family, Soze went after the Mob, killing dozens
of people, including the mobsters' families, friends, and even
people who owed them money. He then "went underground", never again
doing business in person and remaining invisible even to his
henchmen, who almost never knew who they were working for. To quote
one of the most famous lines from the movie: "The greatest trick
the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't
exist." When he did commit crimes, it was always in disguise and
under a fake name, leaving no-one the wiser. His fanatically loyal
attorney, Kobayashi, is the only person in his organization who
knows who he really is.
Soze's ruthlessness is legendary, having enemies and disloyal
henchmen brutally murdered, along with everyone they held dear, for
the slightest infractions. Over the years, his criminal empire,
centered around the drug trade, flourished, as did his legend; he
became "a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night", and
on a par with the Devil in the world of crime.
[edit]
The great Keyser Soze revealed
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The film The Usual Suspects is mostly narrated by dimwitted Roger
"Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), a petty criminal who has been granted
immunity from prosecution and so is helping police investigations
by telling Customs Agent Dave Kujan all about his involvement with
a group of notorious criminals assumed responsible for the
destruction of a ship and the murder of dozens.
It is in Verbal's story that Keyser Soze is first mentioned, both
in the film and in history, and it is revealed that the group of
criminals, said usual suspects, were all blackmailed by Soze into
fulfilling his wishes, which involved retrieving a shipment of
drugs. By the end of the story, all the criminals but Verbal have
been killed and it is believed by Agent Kujan that the true purpose
of their assignment was to eliminate a passenger on the ship that
had seen and could identify Soze. Kujan also believed that Soze
was, in fact, one of the criminals that Verbal had worked with, a
man with a dangerous and disturbing past who may not have
died.
In the final scenes of the movie, it is revealed that Verbal
himself is Keyser Soze. The methods used to persuade the audience
of this included a buzzing montage of voices from the movie,
effectively 'cut and pasted' with images to establish a paranoid
air of revelatory implications, and a very famous scene in which
Verbal/Soze is seen limping down the street, and then slowly losing
his limp as he gets further away from the police station.
The film ends on a celebrated quote, taking the form of a flashback
to earlier in the film, when Verbal, during his fabricated story
about "myth" Keyser Soze, says "And like that... he's gone." The
quote is the most famous of the film, and is favored by fans for
its ambiguity.
[edit]
Cultural impact
Since the release of the film, the name Keyser Soze has become
somewhat of a neologism. It has two popular uses in Western
culture: the first is as a description of a legend, usually of
underworld crime, which is a result of the character's Devil-like
presence in The Usual Suspects. One such reference can by found in
the video game Max Payne, where the titular character refers to
Rico Muerte as "a regular Keyser Soze".
The second use of the name in popular culture is to one who has
fooled many as to his/her true identity and agendas. This use of
the name is owed to the film's legendary twist, which is widely
considered the greatest surprise ending in film history. One such
reference can be found in the hit television series Buffy the
Vampire Slayer, where Nicholas Brendon's character, upon
discovering the disappearance of a possesed dummy that had
convinced the heroes he was a "good guy" asks, "Does anyone else
feel like they've been Keyser Sozed?"
Keyser Soze is also mentioned in the 2005 movie The Dukes of
Hazzard, which was based on the popular television series of the
same name.
[edit]
Meaning of name
The name "Soze" resembles the Turkish word sözel, meaning "verbal,"
which was Kint's nickname. The name "Keyser" resembles the spelling
and pronunciation of the German word Kaiser, descended from the
Latin word Caesar, meaning "emperor." The name Kint also resembles
the word "King". Thus, Kint's names could mean "Verbal Emperor" or
"Verbal King."
[edit]
Trivia
In the original script for The Usual Suspects, Keyser Soze's name
was Kesyer Sume, the name of writer Christopher McQuarrie's former
boss. McQuarrie's ex-boss read the script, and requested that the
name be changed, preferring not to be associated with such an evil
character. McQuarrie and director Bryan Singer obliged.
[edit]
In media
In the PC game Warcraft III, the cheat "keysersoze," without any
numbers, is instant 500 gold.
The band Scooter has a song called Keyser Soze on 1999'album "Back
To The Heavyweight Jam".
Artist called Muffler has also a track called Keyser Soze on album
"Muffler's Mighty Megamix Mania"