Seductive.

Rating: 9/10 (29 May 2015)

To Start, L.A. Confidential is a story about corruption, police brutality, trust and masculinity. The film follows three policemen who have different ways of solving cases. The first is Bud White played by Russell Crowe, who uses violence, the second is Ed Exley played by Guy Pearce who is diplomatic and runs to the point and thirdly we have Jack Vincennes played by Kevin Spacey, who is sleazy and likes to be in the spotlight.
All three deliver great performances, however Vincennes character does begin to fade from the film during the second half. However Exley and Whitey both have completed character arcs and are well developed. After the fallout of an event at the start of the film, we can see the different paths Exley and White have taken however both seem to be on a collision course with each other, and as one of them gains a new piece of information, the other will go one step further. White's character is quite interesting, he has respect for women and protects them at all costs, not matter the consequences. To balance this, he is quite violent towards men, making his judgement somewhat clouded, Exley on the other hand believes in one thing and that is Justice, he is also the complete opposite to White, he uses his words before he uses his hands.
The story is slow, but for a film just over two hours long, being slow is fine. The tone is well dark, and it provides irony, as L.A. in 1950's at least was advertised as the city where dreams come true and in L.A. Confidential we see the dark truth. For the most part the script is logical and lateral, however there are a few minor, and they really are minor, hiccups. For example,at a plot point in the film, a character gives another character an essential clue, however I found it silly that the former character who had been so careful up until this point would give away such an essential clue. Other than that the other problems are truly minor. Onto direction, Curtis Hanson manages to wrangle three worlds within one film, and to keep them separate would have been no easy task, and actually sustaining them would have been quite difficult indeed. The sets looked fantastic, they were all quite engrossing, which is always good. The costumes perfectly fit in with the time period and each character's costume was recognisable, and unlike Jurassic Park, the character's costumes were not Care-beared or in other words each character had a different coloured shirt. The cinematography was great and worked with the limitations of the film. Although the score was nominated for an Oscar, it just didn't fit for me.
In conclusion, L.A. Confidential is a great film and definitely anybody who is a fan of crime dramas or mystery and detective films should watch. My rating: 9/10.