Gripping and suspenseful return to film noir

Rating: 10/10 (19 October 1999)

Robbed of the Academy Award by the insipid Titanic, this is the film that people will praise and remember ten years from now.
LA Confidential boasts one of the finest casts imaginable. Russell Crowe proves his worth as hard-as-nails cop with a soft spot for battered women. James Cromwell demonstrates that he can play a shady police captain as well as a kind-hearted farmer (Babe). Kevin Spacey shines as Hollywood Jack Vincennes, a schemer who has an attack of conscience and David Straitharn's performance as a pimp who has his girls cut to look like movie actresses testifies to the fact that he is one of the most underrated actors in the business. While Kim Basinger puts on a good show as call girl/Veronica Lake lookalike Lynn Bracken, she is the least convincing of the cast. The actors were so superb that they split the votes come Oscar time and none of them were nominated.
What Brian Helgeland does with James Ellroy's novel is masterful. He takes a thick novel full of characters and plot twists and is able to condense it to a mere two and a half hours, still capturing the essence of the work. LA Confidential film afficionados would do well to read Ellroy's novel, as some of the film's more underdeveloped characters (Jack Vincennes, Exley's undead father!) are described in more detail.
Please do yourself a favor and BUY, not rent, this masterpiece. It deserves several viewings and it is a great addition to any movie buff's collection.