Crowe's Vigilance

Rating: 9/10 (19 November 2003)

Spoilers.
L.A. Confidential is one of those miraculous movies that remains strong both in the casting, writing, and staging. Part of it plays on our desire to be voyeurs in the life of celebrities (the title stemming from a tabloid, duh) and the other half tries to translate noir into the color of today.

It succeeds and, thankfully, doesn't try to create something like Body Double.
Noir is one of the most delightful creations in the world of film because is eliminates the old theatrical sense of right/wrong and makes use of moods in ways that stage actors can't. With noir, the camera becomes an entity unto itself and we are left thinking. Some noir entries are cheap, mostly Sam Fuller's, but others like this are really, really good.
Russell Crowe demonstrates his ability to be a dominant presence actor like Sean Connery and Kevin Costner, that's the easy part. As time goes by, he elaborates and becomes more detail obsessed with his role. By the end, he is the only redeeming actor. Pearce is a prop like Costner, that is all-to-obvious.
Overall, L.A. Confidential is a jigsaw puzzles with enough merits including a tri-level story. There's what we know, what the characters know, and what everyone doesn't know. Arrange as follows. (87.5%)