Possibly one of the best crime dramas ever made

Rating: 10/10 (7 June 2001)

LA Confidential is simply a great movie. It yeilds an award winning cast, superb plot, great action, and masterful art direction. By art direction I mean the way that the movie really does seem to take place in 1953. The costumes and hairstyles, the car models and years, the intense Los Angeles background, etc. It all comes out to make the movie have a great and unique image. Many compare the image of LA Confidential to that of The Untouchables. One major flaw: LA Confidential was a serious picture with great charcaters while Untouchables had those charcaters who had that whole comical image about them, like the bookman at the end, or Capone's cliched groupies who pretty much seemed like they came directly from an old Dick Tracy cartoon clip. Besides the sincere and successful image, the plot is absolutely superb, nearly perfect. It combines deep and confusing mystery with a great dramatic story of cops. Besides the plot, the cast is great too. Kevin Spacey, one of my favorite actors, functions very well as the fame hungry and funny cop Jack "Big V" Vincennes. Guy Pearce, featured in the great thriller Memento, is a very good newcomer who plays the by the book Ed Exely. Also, Russel Crowe is great as the violent but principled cop Wendell "Bud" White.
Altogether, LA Confidential is a great movie. It is definitely one of the best movies made in the 90's and possibly the best ploce drama ever.