To whom it definitely concerns: This Bryan Singer's neo-noir crime thriller starts as your run-of-the-mill heist film - a shot of a bad guy here, some explosion over there, then some text telling the viewer we're now in the present, inferring whatever crime that just happened had, in fact, already happened in this universe. Cut to Kevin Spacey, playing a dumb cripple, Verbal Kint, who's reminded how immensely dumb and crippled he is in just about every scene. Primarily, the viewer's perspective is through Verbal's interragation with special agent Dave Kujan, played by Chazz Palminteri, who demands that diabolical liar, Verbal, tell his story from the beginning.
I won't go on to the whole story, as you've (hopefully) seen this movie before.
Our main "suspects" are rounded up and proceed to take out any New York officers they can; at least, that's what I think they're doing. Roger Ebert wasn't wrong when his review of this film claimed the plot wasn't easy to follow (he actually tore it's incoherentness to shreads). Yet, I was still intrigued to see just who this myth of a man, Keyster Soze, was.
The lighting is used as somewhat of a motif in this film; we see multiple shots of Keaton illuminated, foreshadowing his possible identity as Soze. In the scene where we meet Kobayashi, Soze's right-hand man, Keaton opens a briefcase of files Soze has on each of the suspects, and there is a definite light source coming from the briefcase, lighting Keaton, alluding to the fact that he put together the file and acted terrified of "Soze" to justify to the group "hey dudes this wasn't me don't worry it's not like I'm an ex-cop and have the knowledge to gain this information or anything." The Pulp Fiction-esque maguffin proves to just a simple maguffin to my (and others) dismay.
(I couldn't find a shot of the opening of the briefcase online, so this is the best I could do.)
After some long and intense fight/chase/further interrgation scenes, Kujan antagonizes our favorite cripple with the revelation (yay!) that Keaton is, as we guessed, Soze himself. Verbal cries because him and Keaton were somehow bestest friends, but works up his dignity in a very suspicious way to walk out of the office. Then, Kujan's real (this is actually the end guys!) revelation that the stupid, idiot, provocable cripple is Soze.
At this point, I was whispering "no no no no" while my dad, who has seen the movie, laughs at me loudly. Verbal starts to walk with no limp as I let out a small and high-pitched "ahhhhhhh." Hollywood's classic gimmick of the-only-one-you-could-rely-on-is-actually-a-total-madman-and-you-should-feel-ashamed is so, so evident.
The film is a big scheme you have to devote yourself to. If I didn't completly ruin it for you (I know I did), take three hours out of a day to see it, and hour and 45 minutes to view, and the other hour and 15 minutes to feel your heart palpitate.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE JAME FRANCO'S AS OZ IN "OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL" (2013)
I loved how you set up your review. It was very enjoyable and informative to read. This movie sounds like something I have to watch.
ReplyDeleteExcellent job, and great voice. I like the structure of your review and your description of your reaction. This movie is definitely famous for the reveal at the end. It's been a while since I've seen it and I should revisit it. Great job with this.
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