http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyser_SozeKeyser 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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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"