Influences: The Usual Suspects

WARNING: if you haven't seen the usual suspects this post contains a spoiler.

I watched the Usual Suspects during the project and I really enjoyed the criminal/gangster aspect to the film. I liked the fact that the 'suspects' didn't know who they were working for but still did it, mainly out of fear of disobeying him. And so when I suggested that our group centered our plot around a slightly more gangster/criminal theme rather than a psychopathic killer I thought it would also be good to include a fear driven aspect to the film (which led to the inclusion of the daughter) and possibly a twist at the end of the story which The Usual Suspects pulls off amazingly (if you read the blurb of Retribution there is a hint to a twist at the end).

The end of the Usual Suspects has Keyser Soze being unveiled as Verbal Kint, which you do not expect as he was one of the suspects working for Keyser Soze throughout the story. From this idea the group thought that (had we needed a plot for the ending) then Zak Hayton (our main character) would frame Detective Trent for the murder of his daughter. Having Zak feel torn between killing Evie to get revenge on Trent and keeping her alive as he has grown to like her throws conflict into the story. The fact that then Zak would eventually kill Evie anyway then disrupts the audience's relationship towards him that he would be that hungry for revenge.