…bullshit invented by Verbal to string along Agent Kujan, why does it include a moment in which Verbal shoots an unarmed man in the head at point blank range (the guy clutching the drugs in the van)?
Why would Verbal tell an agent he recently committed cold blooded murder, and why doesn’t Kujan react or do anything about it?
good point. there are other things too that contradict, upon post-reflection. i love the film but it's really meant to be a mindfuck for the viewer in the theater. but i love reexamining it too lol
shareI really like the film but at the same time it’s quite frustrating.
A good twist should improve what went before, but the Usual Suspects twist trashes what came before. ‘You know that really cool crime thriller you just watched? It was 90% bullshit. Fooled ya!’
I can’t work out if the filmmakers are making an interesting point about the power of storytelling, or if they just didn’t know how to end their screenplay and decided on a variation of ‘it was all a dream’.
And yeah, it seems very implausible that you can confess to cold blooded murder to a cop and there be zero consequences, ‘immunity’ or not.
Verbal had received "total immunity". Kujan was also only interested in getting Keaton.
shareSo you can confess to an agent that you murdered someone in cold blood and nothing happens because you have ‘total immunity’?
At the very least you’d think the agent would react to that information.
Hey, that was the deal he made with the DA in the movie. "Political pressure", remember? Besides, it wasn't an official interrogation by Kujan, so most likely anything Verbal said couldn't be used against him for all kinds of legal reasons.
I thought the story just continued after that scene and we didn't even see Kujan's reaction? He might've been surprised, but decided to let him tell his story because it was out of his jurisdiction anyway and he was only interested in hearing about Keaton.
I find it hard to believe that the justice system would allow a career criminal to outright confess to an unsolved murder in a police station, recorded onto tape no less, and nothing comes of it. I doubt ‘immunity’ grants you the freedom to commit murder.
Yes, Agent Kujan has a boner for Keaton but he’s also looking for ways to squeeze Verbal. You’d think he’d have something to say about the murder and would use the confession as major leverage against Verbal.
This whole thing has turned political.
The mayor was here last night. The chief.
This morning the governor called, OK?
I'm telling you this guy is protected from
up on high by the Prince of Darkness.
If there’s an unsolved murder and you’re on tape confessing to it, with all the evidence supporting that you were present and a likely suspect, in a police station no less… then I fail to see how that couldn’t be incriminating and therefore usable as leverage by an agent trying to squeeze you.
shareBecause it wasn't an interrogation that followed the proper procedure. Verbal did not get the opportunity to call his lawyer and wasn't made aware he was being recorded, and Kujan also had no jurisdiction. There are all kinds of legal reasons it couldn't be used against him. But again, Verbal had total immunity. The DA of Los Angeles wasn't going to prosecute him for the murder of Saul Berg.
share