7 Great Mysterious Strangers in Movies

by Cameron Carpenter

1. "Keyser Söze" from The Usual Suspects (1995)

Arguably one of cinema's greatest villains and mysteries, Kevin Spacey's first Academy Award-winning role as Verbal Kint shocked and stunned audiences with possibly the biggest sucker punch in movie history; everything you just watched was a lie. Here's what we "know" about Söze; he's a Turkish crime-lord with one hell of a disappearing act. And he can outwit his way out of presumably any situation (given the belief that Kint is Söze, himself, and not just an agent for the mobster). As for everything else, it's entirely possible that it's all fabrication for the sake of some great story-telling. Maybe Kint's ruffling the feathers of the detective. Maybe he's telling the truth. But after sitting through 106 minutes of lies, are we really at liberty to say which parts of Kint's story have merit?

"Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone."

 
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Contributor
Contributor

Cameron Carpenter is an aspiring screenwriter, current film and journalism student, and self-diagnosed cinephile, which only sounds bad in certain circles. Devoted fan of comics, movies, theater, Jesus Christ, Sidney Lumet, and Peter O'Toole, he sometimes spends too much time on his Scribd and comicbookmovie.com, but doesn't think you're one to judge, devoted reader. You can follow him on Twitter to watch him talk to people you didn't know exist. Oh, and Daredevil is quite the big deal around here (my head).