08/29/09 - L.A. Confidential

L.A. Confidential (1997, 138 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119488/

I really have no idea what made me want to watch this, but for some reason I did. I'd heard good things about it, but didn't really know what to expect since it's really not a genre I'm accustomed to seeing.

The movie follows the careers of three police officers: Detective Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), Officer Bud White (Russell Crowe), and Detective Lieutenant Ed Exley (Guy Pearce). The three careers intertwine as they attempt to find the true culprit behind a killing of a fellow police officer. Also playing prominent roles are: James Cromwell as Captain Dudley Smith, head of the Los Angeles police department; Kim Basinger as Lynn Bracken, a prostitute working for a major suspect; and Danny DeVito as Sid Hudgens, a magazine writer out to get all the news on the underdealings in Hollywood.

The film is headlined in the poster by Kim Basinger, but the real stars are Spacey, Crowe, and Pearce. Each of these three characters has a completely different persona and how they react to the developing story and each other is what drives the movie. Having Spacey be the big Hollywood star for the television police drama, Crowe be the "muscle man" who gets the confessions from the thugs, and Pearce be the "good guy" cop who wants to deal out justice no matter the consequences creates an odd mix. And that's what makes the film so good. The acting of these three actors is top-notch and as the movie carries on, each character actually becomes flawed and more three-dimensional, becoming more than just this flat "muscle man" or "good guy" and this captured me and drew me in even more to the great story. The acting of the other three big actors is good as well, particularly Cromwell's Dudley Smith, who does a great conniving captain. Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito do fine in their roles, but I didn't think either was exceptional.

The story also deserves mention for how great it is. The best way to sum it up in my opinion is to think of a picture where the three main actors are each represented by a line. As the movie progresses the lines move forward, crossing and interesting each other as relationships develop, feuds start, betrayals occur, etc. The sweeping, circling, twirling plot sprawls to cover tons of secondary characters, then quickly collapses back in on itself to focus only on a select few for a while before again opening up to include others. This undulating plot is amazing. It draws you in with its every movement and keeps you second guessing your opinion of characters all the time. For example, at first, I liked Exley, but then he betrayed his fellow police officers so I hated him. But he gradually became a good guy again my eyes as he continuously earned his marks for uncovering difficult clues and putting the pieces together. Then he betrays White with Bracken and he's hard to like any more. But as soon as that's over, he's figured everything out and has to somehow convince White to work with him to solve the case and so I'm immediately back to rooting for him. This pushing and pulling with the characters kept me entranced in the developing story and developing characters in a way that few movies have been able to do. It's simply impossible for me not to praise these aspects of the movie too much.

I have a belief that the difference between an amazing movie and a legendary movie is the score and the soundtrack. These small things can simply change entire moods of the film and provide so much emotion. A film like There Will Be Blood wasn't that good in my opinion, but the score was phenomenal. Similarly, Almost Famous and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly are amazing movies with some of the best soundtracks in movie history, making them legendary. So how does L.A. Confidential measure up to these? Well, I was torn. About halfway through I thought to myself how poor the score was, incapable of providing more excitement in scenes and not really doing much for me. Then it grew on me. Near the end of the movie, it was a pounding cacophony and really added a lot to the climactic shootout. So it's a mix of good and bad in this department.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. It really impressed me in the acting and the story departments, creating amazing characters with an astounding story. However, the score wasn't great in my opinion and sometimes the pacing seemed a bit off. But the whole picture is one that's one of my new favorites.