I never saw the twist coming.
However, I did get suspicious during the raid on the ship. Something about it felt all wrong. Verbal was narrating the story. Also when Verbal (Keyser) didn't want any police protection even though he said that he was scared of Soze.
But watching the movie again knowing the twist, I see that he was Soze all along cuz of his behavior was totally guilty and you could tell that he was lying his ass off. But it was so subtle that it is easy to miss the first time.
It's an excellent movie storytelling.

What a bunch of ignorant, show off w****rs, who can't see beyond anything that happened in your tiny short lives. Get some perspective about films of the past, including long past if you are true film lovers who want to see original ideas when they first happened and try to use your brains that things weren't always the way they are in the small sample of films you've seen.

You guessed that Verbal was Soze right off? How quickly?

I guessed it right away when I saw it. My exacts thoughts were who would hire a cripple to do such a job.. Predictable.

You just got lucky guessing.

I was very fortunate when I first saw this movie. I thought it had probably been spoiled for me due to hearing "it's got a big twist involving Kevin Spacey" prior to viewing luckily I had never seen Spacey nor Gabriel Byrne in anything! As he's more of a handsome leading man type and seems the pack leader throughout the story I assumed Byrne was Spacey (the name with more reputation) and spent so much of the duration puzzled as to how a dead man was gonna cause a huge shock ending.
It's not often I'm pleased with myself for making the wrong assumption I actually got to enjoy an extra little twist- "Ah, so THAT's Kevin Spacey".
(Anyone who hears in advance that the film is a twister and/or has seen certain other reputable Spacey performances before this one really shouldn't hold it against the film if they figure things out ahead of time).

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To me, the question that 'Kuzan' asked 'Verbal': 'Do you believe in Kyser Soze?' was a dead give away. I was 99% sure of it already and every minute of the movie started increasing my suspicion and it eventually became 100% when it was supposedly finally revealed!!

To me, I think the best twist movies are ones where if you remove the twist ending, the film is still awesome and has a satisfying ending.
Meh, if you can easily remove the twist, then it's pretty pointless to begin with and it just seems tacked on to have a shocking ending. The whole point of a twist is to put a different perspective on the whole movie. You mention Fight Club, The Sixth Sense and Primal Fear, but they essentially work the same as The Usual Suspects.

I kind of agree with this. I mean, when did you watch it? If you saw it at a young age, or before seeing movies with twists a lot, like FIGHT CLUB or PRIMAL FEAR or THE 6TH SENSE, then the twist probably works a lot better as a SURPRISE.
To me, I think the best twist movies are ones where if you remove the twist ending, the film is still awesome and has a satisfying ending. Movies that rely too much on the twist.eh. THE USUAL SUSPECTS falls into the second category.
That link is to my video review of the movie where I talk a bit more about the impact of the film AND the twist ending, if you're interested.

I did. Just watched it tonight and I figured out that Kevin Spacey was the mastermind within about 30 minutes. (And it wasn't because I just assume Kevin Spacey to be evil like some people mention in the thread.)
By that point, you basically knew everybody of the main group was dead except for him, which was already a really fishy thing. He's getting off scot-free almost from the get-go, which would seem like something easy for the mastermind to worm himself into. He doesn't show much emotion for most of the movie; only when he is "startled" in a few rare instances. He was also entirely "new" to the group of criminals, while the 4 others somewhat knew each other in different ways - which seemed convenient for Keyser (and even one of the four calls this out while in the holding area, even if half-jokingly). And of course, knowing the movie was told almost entirely by him, I expected a lot of lies or at least misdirection.
All of the above basically went through my mind in like 30ish minutes, maybe a bit over, and I called that he'd be it. That didn't mean that I "knew" it was Kevin Spacey. It was just my guess based on what I had seen, though it turned out that I was right! Though of course I didn't know stuff like him referencing random things off of the bulletin board.
However, I still enjoyed the movie a lot and thought it was well-directed, with many good performances and great style.

That is the twist, yes, I got you. The guy I was replying to there was just being kind of a non-sensible d*ck though. I understand that the OP seemed to think the movie got ruined when it really didn't.
Like I replied just below this - it was really easy to figure out that Kevin Spacey was the bad guy early on for me, but I didn't pick up at all about it being random names and gibberish from objects in the room. And I still liked the movie a lot even if I was thinking that Kevin Spacey was spewing (some) nonsense as the bad guy the entire time.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean that the whole movie you just saw was only a story made up by Verbal on the spot. I actually think that's the main twist.

You don't need to know that all the names are from the bulletin board in order to make a pretty educated guess that Kevin Spacey is the criminal.

bull beep beep you are just trying to pass yourself of as some great wise man i guess you knew all the names came from the cops office too, beep lying wanker

We actually don't know if he's really Keyser Soze or if Keyser Soze even exists.

I was 15 when I saw it, in 1995. I knew Verbal was Keyser Soze 19 minutes into the movie, and Im not someone who tries to figure out movies. It was just
that
obvious.

Its interesting that I agree with you 100%. I feel exactly the same way. I saw the twist coming from a mile off. This rarely happens. Their aren't very many people I agree with, despite ancient philosophers. But congratulations for earning my trust and agreement. You've earned it.

It's a great movie, with great actors, great writing, great direction, great dialogue and suspense, but everyone is so obsessed with twists, twists, twists that they're missing a great movie playing right before their eyes.
"I saw the twist coming! I'm greatz, yay, like me on facebook!" So you guessed it, good for you. But movies are more than just twists.
Never be complete.

I think in the first watch I missed half the point. I predicted that "Verbal" was behind it all but I didn't really fully "get" the noticeboard/Keyser Soze thing until my second watch.
I actually think that is the main twist and one most people don't see coming. As the director and actors have said, Verbal doesn't necessarily have to be Soze, it could be any of them or none of them.

Thanks for all the replies, good to see I got a good debate going.
I watched this film again last night, and I did enjoy it more than the first watch.
Basically, to the 2 points above, 1) No I didn't know it had a twist before my first watch, but 2) This is what I think gave it away to me.
On the second watch I picked up a lot more clues and visuals that "Verbal" was making up half the story from the notice board and objects and I am sure there are plenty I missed too.
I think in the first watch I missed half the point. I predicted that "Verbal" was behind it all but I didn't really fully "get" the noticeboard/Keyser Soze thing until my second watch.
It's interesting you mention Shutter Island as that fooled me, however I didn't know it had a twist.

There are 2 reasons you saw the twist coming.
1 - You knew there was a twist in it. When people saw this in the theater in 1995, they had no idea the film even had one. The fact that you knew about the vague presence of a twist allowed you to know what to look for and what to expect.
2 - Kevin Spacey has made a career out of playing villainous roles. Back in 1995, he wasn't as well known. Looking at it now, it's obvious that Kevin Spacey has to be Keyser Soze because, well, he's Kevin Spacey.
So, no, in answer to your question, I didn't think it was obvious that Kint was Soze. If it had been obvious, the movie wouldn't have garnered the prestige that it has today. People would have been underwhelmed (like you are now).
As an example of the benefit of foresight, I'll tell you this. When I watched 'Shutter Island' for the first time, I was aware that it had a twist. I had no idea what the twist was, only that it existed. Consequently, and I swear I'm not making this up, I correctly predicted the twist within the first 10 seconds of the film. Foresight can make just about anything predictable.

I watch this movie in 2006 and it's in my top 10. But, I didn't know that movie has twist ending. I was blown away with ending. Not 'cause Keyser Soze reveal( we don't know to this day who is Soze),but because Verbal wasn't cripple and made all story. Along with No Way Out greatest twist of all time.It's easy guess twist when you know movie has famous twist.

The only way to make this twist predictable is for someone to tell you before hand 'the movie has an amazing twist you'd never guess!'
Back when the movie came out you went to the movie expecting a crime thriller.
Not a whodunnit.
And honestly, to me the Primal Fear twist was way more predictable than this one.
Nevertheless, I think Primal Fear is an awesome movie.
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