FairlyAnonymous I want to say that L.A. Confidential is a movie that I (somehow) had never heard of nor had any interest in seeing. I'm pretty sure I had seen the poster before, but that was all I knew of it. So even though I am reviewing this movie 20 years after its release, I have not had the plot spoiled to me (though I'm sure I've seen movie that were influenced by it). I'm going to try and avoid spending too much time on the positives of this film because I think there are some pretty glaring issues with this film that have gone unnoticed.That being said, the vast majority of this film is a blast to watch. Most of the characters are very interesting, unique, and well thought out which was probably the most important aspect of the film to get right (next to the story). Exley was my personal favorite because you could tell he genuinely cared about justice and keeping the law in order. He wins his fights by being smarter than everyone else and this makes him an interesting character. The main mystery of the movie is a little incoherent at times, but it was still rather engaging for me and I was invested in seeing where it would go. The strongest elements of this movie have to be the action and the character interaction. Almost all of the dialogue is sharp and entertaining to watch. Now, onto the aspects of this film that I thought almost broke it: Bud White... my goodness is this character hard to watch. Russel Crowe does a great job portraying him, so it is not the fault of the actor, but the character himself is insufferable. Granted, my view on this is probably different than those who saw this movie in the 90s because the whole political climate as of late is different, but this guy is just an awful "white knight". Essentially, he is a ball of murderous rage 24/7 and is constantly looking for an excuse to save women who don't need saving. Oh, there is a woman with several men, how about I go over there and beat them up and then figure out if there is an issue. What makes him even worse is that he breaks the law and even plants evidence/lies on multiple occasions just to satisfy himself. For example, why didn't he tell the woman that there was a dead body under he house? It turns out that his reason for being a murderous killing machine against anyone who mistreats women is because his mom was abused to the point of death and he had to watch. Great, that kind of makes sense, but it doesn't excuse him pulling guns on people, starting fights, and grabbing people's crotches to torture them.Now, this is just one character, but unfortunately his "romantic subplot" is another big issue with this film.The romance in this movie sucks. It just does. It doesn't feel natural and it is entirely forced. Bud White somehow falls in love with a prostitute, but it is never explained WHY they fall in love. For instance, the prostitute says really cliche stupid stuff like, "You're special" or "you're different" but the only thing different about him is that "he doesn't hide his emotions" which is an incredibly stupid line because she HAS NEVER INTERACTED WITH HIM OUTSIDE OF HER HOUSE (except for them going to the movie on an occasion). Their romance is so forced that I was legitimately surprised when they started to make out, because there was no build-up to it.Fine, one bad romantic relationship, but this movie has TWO! WITH THE SAME GIRL!Exley goes to the prostitutes house to investigate her because he thinks the relationship between her and Bud White is false and that she was paid off to do it... and then he rapes/has sex with her?!?!?! It's really confusing because he has been established to be the brains of the team and is vastly smarter than everyone else, yet when he is prying for information from someone who he think is manipulating them he then decides to have sex with that said person and assumes that he is not being manipulated... by a prostitute.Really. A prostitute manipulating someone into sex? THAT IS LITERALLY THE FIRST THING THAT SHOULD COME INTO HIS MIND! What makes this plot point even worse is that it was a set-up and now Bud White tries to murder Exley in an attempt to get back at him for having sex with HIS prostitute (again, she is a prostitute. She is having sex with tons of people. Chillax). What makes things really odd is that the other cops in station don't seem to mind the fact that Bud White is murdering Exley? Someone walks into the room, Bud White pushes them out, and then no other cops investigate. Seriously? Long story short, all of this was the bad guy's plan (who was quite obviously the bad guy from the moment we saw him, so it wasn't really a plot-twist). The final action sequence was fantastic and really well set-up, and it was nice to see Exley and Bud White work together instead of at each other's throats. While I did enjoy the villain, his plan was super contrived and required a myriad of coincidences to actually work. Again, it's just a movie, but it is a little troublesome.The main theme of this movie seems to be that following the law completely doesn't always work but breaking the law constantly for the sake of justice isn't the best either. It's a compromise movie. However, the issue with this is that Exley pretty much got everything he wanted through brains and I don't think that he ever really needed Bud White... at all. I honestly can't think of a situation where Bud White's viciousness got him something that he couldn't have gotten himself. On the other end, I don't think Bud White ever learned to not be vicious. The only thing he possibly learned was to maybe not let his emotions get the best of him because he nearly killed Exley (and he hits the prostitute which makes him like his father), but then he goes back to being a psychopath right after that so I don't think he learned anything. This is a fairly big issue with the movie's message, because it doesn't really work. None of the characters (who are alive by the end of the movie) really change except for Exley, who allows more illegal activity to happen... yay?While I think the vast majority of this film is great, I think the biggest issue this movie has is the character drama and the movie's message. The character drama feels so forced and fake that I almost stopped watching the movie because I realized that the established traits of the characters didn't ultimately matter. Anyone could break character to make the plot go in a certain direction, which then cuts out any real sense of tension.Good movie, great acting, great action, okay mystery, bad drama, awful romance. That's my take on it, at least.

prustage95 I am going to concur with the other glowing reviews here and say that this is an excellent film that deserves the high reputation its has. Except for one aspect - sound design and management. Much has been said about the recent trend to balance dialogue with other sound tracks badly but this film really is the worst I have come across. Dialogue and music are fairly well balanced and work well together but any on-screen violence causes the volume to be cranked up to ear splitting and totally unnatural levels. Gunshots, fist fights and even door slams are unacceptably louder than the dialogue and music levels and in a domestic viewing environment this means the finger has to be constantly on the volume control to compensate. I see no reason for this other than shock value. Unfortunately the shock effect wears out very quickly and we are left with something that is crude, annoying and badly thought out. Pity, because everything else about this film is brilliant.

ElMaruecan82 You know what all neo-noir masterpieces have in common? They didn't even try to be noir, their power relied on confident directing, perfect writing and solid acting… and the whole thing just looked fresh, original and possibly the best thing for a movie: to be watchable and re-watchable. This is "L.A. Confidential" in a nutshell, one of the best movies of the 90's.Adapted from a novel by James Ellroy, the plot is the kind of masterpiece of stylish complexity that is just too labyrinthine for the big screen, yet Curtis Hanson compresses everything into a neat episodic structure so that by the end of each act, we've progressed in the comprehension of what is going on and the changes it has on the main protagonists. As a matter of fact, the characterization matters more than the investigation, which is saying a lot because the investigation surrounding a massacre at a seedy night-club (naturally, only the tip of the iceberg), is captivating as hell.But let's get back to the characters, this is the meatiest part of the film. "L.A. Confidential" focuses on three cops who couldn't have been more different: Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) and Bud White (Russell Crowe).Vincennes is a consultant for a "Dragnet"-like show called "Badge of Honor", which makes him a movie star by proxy. What does that mean? Simply that in the early 50's, Hollywood became the new Sodom what's with all the booze, drugs, the criminal wave following the arrest of local mobster Mickey Cohen and of course trashy star-studded tabloids' headlines covered by Hush-Hush magazine editor Sid Hudgens (Danny De Vito). Vincennes embraced the sleaziness of the city without letting its soil his nice suit, he bribes, blackmails and takes ethical shortcuts but never at the expenses of law enforcement. As his Captain smartly advises "don't try to do the right thing, you haven't had the practice", sill, Vincent might not be clean but he's the essence of cool, so we forgive him.Exley is the steely ambitious college-boy whose glasses and 'Holier-than-thou' attitude earns him a range of reactions that go from tacit suspicion to sheer contempt; it also earns him his first promotion thanks to a fine tactical move. Exley might not be likable but he's not despicable either because we admire a cop who'd trade popularity for principles. Finally, Bud White strikes as the anti-Exley, this is a guy who hits first and asks the questions later, he doesn't rat on his partners and is known for his particular hatred toward woman-beaters. He happens to be the right-hand man of Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) and occasionally, the right-fist man when some punchy methods are required against criminals. And at the top of the pyramid, Dudley Smith makes good use of White's brutal force and Exley's by-the-book standards. He knows pretty well how to use his boys like so many pieces of a chess game and even dispose of some nuisance when comes a risk to compromise the image of LAPD.So from this gallery of original character, It all comes down to one pivotal moment where our opinions are challenged. Exley stop to be an ambitious opportunist, but a man with a personal record to settle and who knows how to be tough and bad-ass, White shows a warmer side of him notably through his interactions with a hooker named Lynn (Kim Basinger) and Vincennes also has a moment of realization, that can't be spoiled. The film is about three men who become aware of their limitations but move forward, because there's always a line you mustn't cross. Speaking of Basinger, she won her Oscar for her performance as Lynn, a hooker who screams 'femme fatale' but whispers an emotional fragility that channels Faye Dunaway in "Chinatown". In fact, she embodies one essential aspect of the film; nothing is exactly what it seems.This notion serves one of the film's many subplots, involving a doctor, played by David Strathairn, turning escort-girls into celebrities' lookalikes. The confusion culminates with an embarrassing but hilarious mistake committed by Excel, one. that shows how cinema, police and crime were easily interlocked, and that the city of angels couldn't do without a few devils here and there. The omnipresence of corruption is persistent in the plot and it's less a matter than realizing who is bad and who is not, but to which extent they are. And you can't get to such multi-layered level complexity without top-notch acting. It is a credit to the late Hanson to have cast the two fresh faces of Pearce and Crowe to star in an American period picture. Speaking of these two actors, one of the many delights of "L.A. Confidential" is to see these rivals with diverging methods realizing that they serve the same case and need to cooperate.The screenplay (second Oscar-winning category) is quite self-conscious about the way it retreads the good cop / bad cop cliché, so it uses a scene that reinvents the trope in such an inventive and brutal way, "L.A. Confidential" becomes immune to any comparison. When a pompous big shot ends up panting in a fetal positions, you know these guys mean business.Well, that's what "L.A. Confidential" in a nutshell, a movie that means business with guys who learn a thing or two in the process. It might get a little conventional during the climactic showdown but to say something that can only be applied to the best noir movies: it's not the destination that counts, but the journey.

Sameir Ali Mostly based on actual facts, L.A. Confidential tells the story of Hollywood in the 50's. Corruption and crimes are growing this time. Drug dealers, prostitutes and murders occupy L.A.Three cops of entirely different characters are coming forward to investigate on this, in their own style. One policeman is a straight, strict to the law person. Another one is very brutal, low tempered and tough person. And the last one of corrupt, who is doing dirty things for few bucks.Directed by Curtis Hanson and camera by Dante Spinotti. Technical side is amazing, by all aspects. Cast also did wonderful job. The characterization was so careful and well made. Each person has his own characteristics.One of the best crime dramas. A Must watch!#KiduMovie