This is how a proper crime story should be told!

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2006)

LA Confidential is a sprawling epic tale of crime, corruption and justice in Hollywood and the LAPD, with a cast to match. A truly gripping crime saga exposing the seedy underbelly of the City of Angels, where cops never let the truth get in the way of justice, and everyone knows everyone else's dirty secrets.
Criminally overlooked at both the box office and the Academy thanks to the all-conquering and over-achieving Titanic, LA Confidential will far more likely stand the test of time to be thought of as one of the best films of the 90s, and possibly the best cop film ever.
After cops give a number of inmates a beating in retaliation for two of their own being put in hospital, the career-minded Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) agrees to testify to what he saw, turning in his fellow officers. When one of the cops forced out turns up dead as a result of a shooting, Exley, hothead detective Bud White (Russell Crowe) and fame-obsessed Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) all work to find the answers. However, as they uncover the truth, it leads to more questions, of corruption, blackmail, bribery and conspiracy.
The film superbly portrays the dual nature of Hollywood; glamorous parties and beautiful people, and the seemingly ever-present crime and corruption, even in the police. Danny Devito's opening monologue perfectly sums it up - 'There's trouble in paradise'. This is not the city at the end of the rainbow, the city where dreams come true.
A series of stellar performances from an all-star cast makes it impossible to pick the star, although Kim Basinger richly deserved her Best Supporting Actress. Kevin Spacey is terrific as ever, while Russell Crowe shows that Gladiator wasn't his first muscles-with-a-heart role. But the real standout is probably Guy Pearce in a career-making performance as the one officer determined to what is right and just, regardless of the potentially disastrous consequences for him. However, LA Confidential is a true ensemble piece, and everybody holds their own among the starry cast. Few will have made many better films, before or since.
Curtis Hanson directs in a career-defining role, the sweeping direction echoing the sprawling nature of both the story and the city. The story is a slow-burner, gradually unraveling all the twists, but instead of clearing up the mystery, the waters become muddier as the trio of officers are forced to work together. Hanson masterfully commands the James Ellroy's source material, weaving it into a gripping multi-layered tale. The characters are extremely well developed, all three-dimensional, with no clear-cut heroes and villains. White (Crowe) in particular is the classic film noir anti-hero, the violent cop with a heart-breaking story, thinking with his muscles rather than his brain. LA Confidential is a classic 50s noir film told for the 90s, and keeps you guessing right up to the final scene as to how high the corruption goes. The two-hour running time is never felt.
A superb thriller and the perfect antidote to the rash of mindless action-comedies that frequently come out of Hollywood today, LA Confidential harks back to how film-making used to be  all about telling a story. And what a story it is. One of, if not the best film of the 90s.