A film I've been wanting to see for an age...

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2013)

Little has a police crime drama been portrayed so beautifully and executed so well, L.A. Confidential has everything required for a blockbuster thriller of this type: A majestic 50's L.A. backdrop; a straight-laced cop - and likewise, an unbridled one; a stunning blonde; A riveting murder case and numerous shoot-outs. As eager players of the video-game 'L.A. Noire' would know, creating a great backdrop is absolutely vital for a film like this, and both game and film really nailed it.
A special credit to the casters, too, as Spacey plays the sleazy, egocentric cop far too well. This character was my favourite (although I would have liked to see some more action from him).
As crime dramas go, the plot was not terribly complicated; A newly recruited police officer - Sergeant Edmund "Ed" Exley (Guy Pearce) is adamant he can become a legendary detective, just like his father. His intelligence, insistence on following regulations, and his cold demeanour contribute to his social isolation from other officers, which soon leaves him disliked amongst the division. Bud White (Crowe) plays the, and I quote (from Pearce's character), "mindless thug" and violent loving officer. Bud comes to dislike Ed after his partner, Dick Stensland, is fired due to Ed's testimony in the "Bloody Christmas" scandal. Bud is sought out by Dudley for a job intimidating out-of-town criminals trying to fill the void left in L.A. following the imprisonment of Mickey Cohen, the city's most successful and notorious gangster. The Nite Owl case becomes personal after Stensland is found to be one of the victims. Jack Vincennes (Spacey) moonlights as the technical adviser on Badge of Honor, a popular Dragnet-type TV crime program. He is also connected with Sid Hudgens (DeVito), publisher of Hush-Hush magazine, receiving kickbacks for tipping Sid off to celebrity arrests that will attract even more readers to the magazine. When a young actor winds up dead during one of these schemes, a guilt-ridden Jack is determined to find who did it. At different intervals, the three men investigate the Nite Owl killings and concurrent events which in turn begin to reveal indications of corruption all around them. Ed pursues absolute justice, all the while trying to live up to his family name. Bud pursues Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts, which leads him to Lynn Bracken (Basinger), a Veronica Lake look-alike prostitute with ties to the case he and Ed are independently investigating. Meanwhile, Jack follows up on a pornography racket with ties to both the Nite Owl and Lynn's handler Pierce Patchett (Strathairn), operator of Fleur-de-Lis, a call-girl service that runs prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to resemble popular film stars.
The story unfolds to reveal an unexpected twist - that LAPD Captain Dudley Smith (Cromwell) is behind all of it.
In conclusion then, the plot was rather simple, but effective and capped off a fantastic neo-noire film that any fan of these iconic "noire" type crime dramas should be sure to watch.