For me The Usual Suspects starts off with a fundamental misdirection that is completely unfair. In the opening sequence
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Usual Suspects
steveburgess — 10 years ago(November 10, 2015 07:55 PM)
For me The Usual Suspects starts off with a fundamental misdirection that is completely unfair. In the opening sequence we see repeated shots of the boxes where Verbal claims to be hidingcamera closing in to suggest very strongly that someone or something is there (that was the conclusion I drew even before hearing Verbal's story, as I'm sure most people did).
Later Verbal tells his tale. SPOILER ALERT: It's all lies. But that's OKit's Verbal's story illustrated, so any lies told by the camera while recounting this story are simply illustrations of Verbal's lies.
But the opening sequence is not Verbal's storyit's the director's. It's the impartial camera guiding us to what we should look at. And the sequence strongly implies: Someone is behind those boxes. In fact, there's no one there.
That's a fundamental lie from the director. Not playing fair. -
Stratego — 10 years ago(November 11, 2015 04:26 AM)
The director acknowledges that it's misdirection, but in no way is it a lie. No one is ever shown behind those boxes. At that time we don't even know about Verbal, we just assume it's him later one when he claims to have witnessed the murder.
Quite weird that you're not bothered by the fact that the whole story you just saw could be a complete lie, but do think that a certain camera angle spoils the movie. In both cases the audience allows itself to be fooled by making assumptions. -
gottaluvafriend — 9 years ago(September 18, 2016 11:23 PM)
This is a MacFuffin: "In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation. The specific nature of a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot." - Wikipedia.
It's a legitimate filmic device, in this case due to the fact that Verbal is inventing his story and so using the MacGuffin as it were to fool Agent Kujan and the audience.