Certain events in The Usual Suspects are presented a number

At the police station Verbal asks for some coffee, which is refused, but he talks until he gets what he wants: “I’m really thirsty-I used to dehydrate as a kid. But once again the audience, who may have dismissed his comment, have overlooked its purpose in showing Verbal/Keyser’s intentions after the interrogation. ” On first encounter with this statement it appears that Verbal is merely enhancing the myth about Keyser Soze and that he has the power to simply disappear, whilst maintaining an invincible reputation. It is ironic that Kujan tells Verbal, “I'm smarter than you”, as this statement will be thrown back in Kujan's face a thousand fold. The stylistic presentation of the dropping of the coffee mug symbolises what is essentially the dropping of a bombshell in that Verbal has been manipulating Kujan the whole time and using his own police work against him. It if you find a body and you think his brother did it, you're gonna find out you're right”. The presentation of the scene is affective in its simplicity; we are not presented with any kind of build up to the situation on the boat, neither do we know who Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) is or why he is on the floor and we are not aware of who Keyser Soze is and the power that he possesses. The clear contrast in the way Verbal reflects on events in the boat scene to the way things are presented initially helps to emphasise his cunning and subtle power and it is through his storytelling techniques that we are able to learn more about his character, particularly after we learn that he is in fact the omnipotent Keyser Soze. However, upon reflection we can see that this is not the case. There's no mystery to the street, no arch criminal behind it all. The ironic thing about this however, is that a lot of the information Verbal gives has been manipulated and the only thing we can really be shore of is the little information we are presented with in the opening boat sequence. This means that we, like Agent Kujan are being manipulated into thinking that Keyser Soze could be one of a number of subtly obvious people though clearly not Verbal due to his handicap and inability to impose his will on other people.

Verbal explains events leading up to the explosion on the boat and because of this the audience get a better interpretation of how and why events are occurring, in contrast to the beginning scene which leaves a number of matters unresolved.