The Usual Suspects Characters Ranked Least-Most Likely To Win The Hunger Games

The Usual Suspects is one of the most engrossing dramas of the 90s, and that’s mostly down to how well developed the characters are. For a crime drama, the movie is generally very character-driven compared to others in the genre, and that’s why it’d be great to see them thrown into The Hunger Games.

Though almost every character in the movie is a criminal jewel thief with expertise in a specific kind of weapon, some characters would actually fair much worse than others. Between a mechanic who is great with explosives, a crime lord with an unbelievable legacy, and an untrustworthy diamond fence, it could be the most chaotic Hunger Games ever.

8 Agent Kujan

Nobody fell into Verbal’s trap more than Agent Kujan, who ate up every lie the character told him. He may have weapons training being an FBI agent, but given all the lies Kujan buys into, the suspects would easily be able to throw him off the scent in the arena.

Just like when he was firing questions at Verbal in Jeff Rabin’s office, Kujan would be chasing his own tail before he made any major moves in the Hunger Games. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist, and as Kujan fell for that trick more than anyone, he’d be the first to go.

7 Dean Keaton

Killing Keaton was one of the worst things Keyser Soze ever did, but before that happened, Keaton was the suspect who survived the longest. However, that could have been through sheer luck. Though Keaton came off as a jerk, he was the least criminal of all the gang, if that counts for anything.

He might be full of confidence, but Keaton was one of the few who felt pity for Verbal, and he was too scared to murder the jeweler during the job that Redfoot set up. Having empathy for people is a great character trait to have, but not in the Hunger Games arena. And being too scared to pull the trigger of a gun is even worse.

6 Fred Fenster

Fred Fenster essentially exists only so that Keyser Soze can set an example and instill fear into the gang. He is murdered by Koze’s lawyer when he tries to do a runner. But in the Hunger Games, there’s nowhere to run, and though there are places to hide, Fenster would quickly be smoked out by Soze.

What’s worse is that he doesn’t particularly have a skill set that will do him any favors either. What defines him isn’t what he specializes in like the other suspects, but his incomprehensible vernacular, which won’t get him anywhere. He is close with McManus, and Fenster could ride on his coattails for a short while, but it wouldn’t be long until the weapons specialist turns on him.

5 Kobayashi

Kobayashi isn’t even his real name, as the name is nothing more than a brand of coffee mugs, and it hilariously inspired a reference in Borat 2. But regardless of whatever his name is, the lawyer would be a deer in headlights if he was thrown into the arena with the savages that are the suspects.

Kobayashi is just a mouthpiece for Keyser Soze, and threatening to kill the suspects’ loved ones isn’t exactly going to work in the Hunger Games. However, even though he shows no combat or weapons skills, he was still able to kill Fenster off-screen. And there’s no way Keyser Soze would hire somebody who wasn’t at least capable to hold their own against petty thieves at the very least.

4 Todd Hockney

Todd Hockney doesn’t move that fast and his mouth often gets him into trouble, as he’s the quickest to make witty remarks in situations that don’t call for them. He’s quick to get shot and killed by Keyser Soze on the boat at the end, even when his whole body is strapped with weapons. However, way more than anyone else, Hockney is an expert in explosives that nobody can compete with.

Though he’d never win the competition, his skills with explosives will at least get him so far. And despite several of the suspects being hesitant when it comes to some of the crew’s jobs, Hockney is in for a penny, in for a pound. That’s a great attitude to have in the Hunger Games arena.

3 Redfoot

As Redfoot is again another made-up name, which was plucked from the bulletin board that Verbal was staring at the whole time, it doesn’t mean that that character isn’t real. Redfoot isn’t on screen for too long, as he’s only in a couple of scenes when the suspects take a trip to California, but there’s a lot about his character that is revealed in the sequence.

Though not much is revealed about how good he is with a gun or how well he can fight, when the truth comes out about the diamond heist, it shows how quick he is to turn on his peers. Redfoot might be untrustworthy, but that means it won’t take him too long to adjust to the ways of the Hunger Games.

2 Michael McManus

When describing Michael McManus to Agent Kujan, Verbal called him “a good guy… but crazy,” and there’s probably no other character that would enjoy the Hunger Games more than him. McManus, being the weapons specialist that he is, would treat it like a sport, whether it’s sniping his opponents from hundreds of meters away or stabbing them like the cold-blooded murderer he is.

He might even sing a song while doing it, as the psychopath sang “Old MacDonald” while picking off the Hungarian gangsters. More than anything, McManus would love to be pit against his peers, as he and Hockney despise each other, and it was largely fuelled by a real feud onset of The Usual Suspects.

1 Verbal Kint/Keyser Soze

The twist ending is why The Usual Suspects has aged so well, and it’s exactly why Verbal Kint, a.k.a Keyzer Soze, would win the Hunger Games without a shadow of a doubt. The final act of The Usual Suspects is already almost like a mini Hunger Games.

The whole act features a giant shootout in search of a shipment of cocaine on a boat. And that’s where every suspect gets murdered by none other than Verbal. From what audiences have heard about him, such as killing his whole family just to send a message, there’s no knowing how far Keyser Soze is willing to go to win.