20 Most Perfect Scenes In Cinema History

Most twist endings - even the genuinely surprising ones - are a one-shot deal. Once you know how the trick is done, there’s little desire to watch it performed again. The Usual Suspects, on the other hand, is just as thrilling a movie on the twentieth viewing, and it’s largely thanks to that final scene.

Kevin Spacey plays ‘Verbal’ Kint, a small time conman in way over his head, relaying to police the story of how he came to be the sole survivor of a massacre on a burning ship. As his tale unfolds, it becomes clear that Verbal isn’t telling the whole truth.

It’s John Ottman’s dual talents as editor and composer that make the film’s climax so compelling. Layering snatched dialogue from the preceding hundred minutes, he builds the scene as though it were a score, rising to an atonal crescendo before pulling out from the minutiae of the office to the elegiac finale of the precinct and the street beyond.

Is Verbal really the chimerical Keyser Soze? That’s the generally accepted interpretation (although some differ). But even knowing the ending, you can watch and rewatch The Usual Suspects and still get that chill down your spine every time Dave Kujan drops his coffee to the floor...