An All Around Fantastic Film

Rating: 10/10 (19 February 2011)

L.A. Confidential excels in every category of the spectrum: plot, acting, directing, dialogue, cinematography, and so on. It's a shame that this movie got screwed out of Best Picture in '97, and in its stead it won an award for a non-stand out performance from Kim Basinger. While I say it's a non-stand out to me, that's not to say it was bad because it was good, but when you're competing against the likes of Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, and James Cromwell, it's hard to give her that kind of recognition.
There was only one problem I really had with the film, but it wasn't against the film at all. I don't know if I was the only one to notice this, but I thought the people behind marketing this movie put too much emphasis on Kevin Spacey. Upon seeing the poster for the film, I was intrigued to see that one of my favorite actors, Kevin Spacey, was the leading man in the film, but he wasn't. It isn't too say that he didn't do a great job, but it's obvious that they listed his name first because he was the biggest name actor at the time. Spacey was fresh off of Se7en, and the Usual Suspects, which he won an Oscar for. His character is more of a major side character in my opinion, or the lowest of the main characters, with three or possibly four other characters filling bigger plot points in the film. This is just me nitpicking, but I thought that it was Ed Exley, Bud White, Captain Smith, and then Vincennes successively. Once again, this is purely nitpicking, but it's also purely speculation.
The plot of this film is fairly complex and easily spoiled. First time watching this I was fairly lost, but no need to worry, Ed Exley gives you the full rundown at the end of the film. Without giving much away, the story takes place sometime in the mid 1900s in Los Angeles. It follows the story of the lies, deceit, and corruption within the city and its police department. The movie starts off with introducing us to Ed Exley and Bud White, two promising cops in their own ways; Exley is a by-the-book cop, doing whatever he can to serve justice while White is a brutal, dangerous cop who's willing to do whatever it takes to do what's right. The movie starts off by showing a distinction between two traits that people might think are interchangeable. The audience is meant to hate Exley early on because he decides to testify against other fellow cops when the entire station gangs up on some criminals who killed some other cops. White on the other hand seems to act on what he thinks is right, and tries to stop it at first, but then proceeds to initiate more beatings once a criminal makes a crack at White's mother. White is perceived as a good guy, who fights for just and humane reason, but Exley is perceived as a greedy capitalist who would sell his wife to the devil to get ahead. But as the film progresses, we meet more characters like Vincennes, Smith, and Bracken, and the story about the "Night Owl Killings" gets more and more complicated, the two characters seem to change from what they initially are written as, arcing into contradictions of the audiences original perception. The audience is made to sympathize with Exley once we learn about the motives of his decision to become a cop, in turn, making him less of a dick, and more of a guy who just was criminals behind bars. On the other hand, White becomes enraged once he learns a horrible secret (kind of would spoil film), and goes to see his girlfriend and beats her. This contradicts his former character, as someone who personally despises wife-beaters because of his backstory. Exley and White are such dynamic and interesting characters that they could each be the protagonist; however, if I had to pick one, I'd say it would be Exley because more events revolve around him in the movie and he's the one to rise in the climax, without giving anything away. All the other characters act as to support the crazy plot around them and they did a fabulous job.
There was nothing I hated in the movie. It had a fascinating story with many intense plot twists that keep you guessing, memorable characters and dialogue, and great performances from these characters. Yeah I didn't say much about the movie itself, but this is one movie you need to see to believe. I highly recommend it, and would recommend multiple viewings to grasp all the plot angles.