That Keyser Soze is Kobayashi, the lawyer? That Verbal stuck his head out because of loyalty and protection from the lawyer? And that Verbal was simply the hit man and not the mastermind? That's the feeling I got when the lawyer picks up Verbal in the car at the end; his look is almost like a "good job" to me.
shareI personally don't think he is. It makes more sense if Verbal's behind the Soze myth, since he's such a fantastical liar. I think the appearance of the lawyer at the end suggests that there's some truth to Verbal's story. But your interpretation is possible, the director and actors have basically said it's up to the viewer to decide.
shareI don't think so - Soze wouldn't be driving the car personally, and Verbal wouldn't keep Soze waiting while he lit up a cigarette the way he did. Going by the body language, Verbal is the senior of the two, but it doesn't mean to say that either of them is Soze.
shareVerbal is Soze, no question of that, and there's no question that a person named Keyser Soze exists.
shareWell I don't think there is a Soze. I think that he is just something that Verbal and Kobayashi cooked up as an alias behind their operations. So in that sense I think they are both Soze and neither of them are. I think it makes sense that a con man and a lawyer could have created this elaborate lie about a criminal mastermind.
It's all theory though which is the beauty of the film that I think those who thought the twist was predictable done understand: it still leaves so much open to interpretation making the film infinitely re watchable
Nothing is certain in this movie obviously so there's no "proof" of anything, but based on Kint's statements there's no reason to believe Kobayashi exists at all (let alone that he's a lawyer.) Sure someone picks Kint up at the end of the movie, and that is the same actor playing the person dramatizing Kint's statements to Kujan, but you have to assume everything Kint tells him is pure fabrication.
If you just look at what is "known" outside of Kint's statements, you realize that everything between the actual line-up in New York and the shooting of Keaton by Kint/Soze is based entirely on Kint's statements, which are shown to be unreliable — at best. There's no reason to even trust that McManus, Fenster or Hockney were in LA at all, or even saw them after they were released from the holding cell (everything we know about what occurred in the cell is based on Kint's testimony to the prosecutors in LA.). The robbery of the police obviously happened (Kujan knows of it; it would have been a national story given its scope) but there's no reason to believe "the usual suspects" we're involved in anyway.
Keaton's whole personality as described by Kint is totally at odds with the killer described by Kujan. Kujan's depiction is far more reliable.
Soze as a myth obviously is known. I'd say on the evidence presented in the movie that Kint is him, but what his business was with the other criminal, Keaton, nothing is ever said for certain
Why would the movie be about someone not Soze himself fooling the police so brilliantly, and so how likely could such a character exist? The main job was a job for the man himself, not an underling. Kobayashi was whomever he was in "real life", a lawyer this time, perhaps an accountant next, but always only Soze's accomplice and sidekick.
shareYup, after watching it again and reading a lot of comments in my opinion Pete P is in fact Soze but obviously Verbal was very clever to incorporate him into the story as Kobayashi the Lawyer. Why he needed to tell Kujan about Kobayashi at all I'm not sure. To make up a well rounded plausible story I guess.
I tend to think that Verbal wasn't just a Hitman but they were working together to create the Keyser Soze myth as they were both very clever crims.
Verbal was clearly the mastermind behind the whole thing, he was Keyser Söze and whoever Pete P. plays (his real name can’t be Kobayashi) is his subordinate or possibly lawyer
The thing is though we can’t trust the scenes that are flashbacks because verbal was established to be a liar/a con man
The most obvious (and often the most missed) reveal that Verbal is indeed Soze is in the final shots of the movie, where Verbal is leaving the Police Station and collecting his belongings. He retrieves a gold watch and a gold cigarette lighter, the exact same ones that the Soze character we see at the beginning of the movie shooting Keaton on the deck of the ship are wearing.
shareI don't think people necessarily missed that. The sketch also proves Verbal was the one on the boat shooting everybody. Some people just like to think he was simply a hitman and Kobayashi was the mastermind behind it all.
shareThis only proves that Verbal was the one shooting people on the boat.
The fact that Keaton calls him Keyser only proves that Keaton thought he was Keyser.
It's entirely plausible that Keyser Soze is merely a myth, a persona, invented to serve as a front for joint operations by Verbal and "Kobayashi". That is, the latter two work together to pull off a con, invoking the legend of KS as needed. This fits with Verbal being a known (and very brilliant/successful) con-man.
On this view, Keaton calling Verbal "Keyser" may be because Keaton figured out Verbal was somehow linked to the legendary figure (which would be true if Verbal/Kobayashi invented him), but incorrectly assumed that Verbal actually was Keyser.
no
share