Hard to follow, Basinger is not worthy of Best S.A, the three male leads are incredible, overall a pretty good film

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 1999)

People say that this reminds them of Chinatown, I disagree. I think it reminds me more of Tequila Sunrise. Both have confusing plots, both are film noir in a way and both are richly acted and very well written. What I enjoyed most about this was the excellent performances of Spacey, Pearce and Crowe. All three carried out their roles superbly. When Crowe( Bud White ) was mad ( which was quite a bit ) you could feel his anger. It was written all over his face so that when he lashes out you understand why. Spacey ( Vinsensse ) was a bit of a hotdog in the film but he slowly changes and eventually doesn't like what he sees in the mirror. He also has one of the key scenes in the film when he discovers the main culprit. When he utters the name of the man that supposedly killed Pearce's father, that gave me chills. It was such a well written scene and carried out beautifully by Spacey. I admired Pearce's character ( Ed Exley ). He was not so much a political cronie as he did what he felt was right, all the time. He had integrity and he never wanted to jeapordize that, for any reason. That is why at the conclusion of the film I was left feeling strange when the denoument carried out the way it did. Pearce shoots the bad guy as he walking away. He didn't defend himself in the line of duty, but he killed a man that deserved to die. This man was a cop killer, a murderer, a rapist and a man who thought he was above the law. Does that make it right to shoot him? I'm sure we all think so, but for Pearce to shoot him would have taken alot. Asking moral questions the way the film did was one of its great strengths.
As for the comparison with Titanic. Titanic was a superb film that did everything right and deserved to win everything that it did. These are completely different kinds of movies and Titanic got its just rewards. Just because a film moves a little slowly and has film noir written all over it, it does not mean that it is a better movie than a fantasy that touches your heart. That was also a problem in 81 and 82 when the tables were turned and fantasy ( Raiders of the Lost Ark and ET) lost out to dramatics ( Chariots of Fire and Gandhi. I am glad that the academy has learned to recognize movies like Titanic. To me it was worthy of best picture and best director and the musical score in that film should have won as well. Enough about that.
What I can't understand for the life of me is how Basinger won Best Supporting Actress. She had what, thirty seconds of screen time? Her character was well played but I have seen her character a hundred times before. So that irks me, almost as much as the fact that none of the males won an Oscar. Spacey and Crowe each could have been up for best actor and Pearce could have been up for best actor or best supporting actor. Hell, Cromwell could have been nominated as well. All I know is someone should have won an acting award in this film besides Basinger. That was a mercy award to me.
I really did enjoy this film although I think it is over rated quite a bit. It had me interested and intrigued and it left me asking myself questions at the conclusion. But I just don't think it is as great as everyone says it is.