One of the best films of the 90s, a shining noir with spot-on casting

Rating: 9/10 (21 August 2013)

"L.A. Confidential" is so glossy it gleams. Director Curtis Hanson knows how to shoot the stuff that great crime movies are made of, and with style: bloodstained diners, ritzy villas, grody slumhouses, paper- strewn police departments—this movie makes them all look good. The soul of noir is in these places, but they are flooded with brightness instead of cloaked in shadows, and there always seems to be a magic hour glow around the actors. The casting is almost absurdly spot-on: Kevin Spacey as a smarmy egoist, Danny DeVito as a fast-talking sleaze merchant, Russell Crowe as a brooding bruiser. These are big stars of the best sort, ones who make their names and their money on serious projects that please both crowds and critics. Everything about "L.A. Confidential" fits that bill, and it all works just as well here as it does in the best action thrillers, from the corrupt cops and the green rookies to the gangland executions and the epic shootouts. It's a genre piece, but an impeccable one. In a different year, one when "Titanic" wasn't sweeping up practically every award in sight, it could have netted half a dozen Oscars instead of just two from nine nominations.