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Back at the station rising star Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is in charge, penance for still being single. Only 30 years old, Ed is driven by the desire to achieve even greater things than his vastly respected father Preston. As a step in the right direction, the news from Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) is welcome; he came top of the class in his Lieutenant's exam. The only problem is that he wants to join homicide as a detective, a move resisted by Dudley. In his eyes Ed may be unwilling to get his hands dirty in pursuit of criminals, unlike Bud for example. Elsewhere Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) continues a rewarding trend of collaborating with media hack Sid Hudgeons (Danny DeVito). While Sid sets up victims as fodder for his lurid tabloid, Jack gets the arrest credits for his career record.
The big news on the precinct is how a gang of Mexicans assaulted a couple of beat cops earlier in the day. With gossip suggesting that the victims are both lying on marble slabs and at home resting, via every variation in-between, the mood is murderous. So, when a group of suspects are dragged through the front door, Bud and a baying mob dispense instant justice. While Ed is powerless to prevent this travesty, he gains his revenge in front of D.A. Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin). Secure in the knowledge that might doesn't make right, Ed offers to testify - just as long as he's made a detective. The hisses and whispered insults don't bother Ed, just the prospect of failure. Fortunately a chance to prove his mettle arrives quickly, with word of a shooting at the Nite Owl Cafe.
With some justification L.A. Confidential was long considered to be a near impossible candidate for cinematic translation; how could a 500-page novel of this calibre possibly be brought in at close to the magic 2-hour mark? Well screenwriters Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland have achieved the impossible, principally by a judicious trawling of the entire text. Lifting characters, scenes and dialogue in their entirety, then sorting them into a suitable order, they have retained the flavour of Ellroy without the length. The superiority of this approach is obvious as the strands of Ed, Bud and Jack start out separate then gradually bind together in a mutually dependent mesh. From a scattering of incidents and confidential tips, the vast, squalid underbelly of the City of Angels becomes illuminated to both the audience and the characters. Depicting corruption on such a scale is never easy, yet Hanson (as director) pulls it off with a flourish.
The catalyst which elevates L.A. Confidential far above comparable films is the delicious contrast of Ed, Bud and Jack. Each has inner demons, weak spots and opposing investigative styles; through them we get to view Los Angeles from three starkly different angles. Ed, a new breed of detective, represses all emotion in a battle he can never win; only by following the letter of the law can he suppress Preston's spectre (in his own mind at least). When Ed does give in to his feelings the results are often spectacular, a description always valid for Bud. Tortured by the childhood sight of watching his mother beaten to death, with a tire iron wielded by his father, Bud is obsessed by women in pain. Where he sees a crime, Bud will employ club-like fists in a vain attempt to pound out his own memories. On another level entirely Jack lives up to the Hollywood ideal by consulting on a popular detective show, Badge of Honor. This, and celebrity arrests, are what he lives for; Jack's fear is that both will slip through his fingers. What all three fail to realise, however, is that they are but puppets of Smith.
In order to bring this detail to life, Hanson has assembled a choice cast of big names and unknowns; under his direction all give tremendous performances. At the head of affairs stand Australian's Pearce and Crowe, together with the better known Spacey. Each brings intensity to their character, pointing to why they prefer working alone and how they become vital to each other. In a smaller, though no less important, role Cromwell stands out as a figure of truly amoral ruthlessness. The world of Babe seems far away. As for Basinger and DeVito, they provide decent performances without attempting to overshadow the entire movie. Hence the mark of L.A. Confidential is this - instead of fighting for space, each player takes what their character requires and meshes fully with the rest of the cast.
In other departments L.A. Confidential has a spot-on capture of the 50s look, Los Angeles in the noir style. The reality may have looked nothing like this and perhaps there weren't bodies littering the ground, it doesn't matter. In the context of this world the feel, courtesy of cinematographer Dante Spinotti, is just perfect. There are, however, very few moments in which the design can be appreciated; after a sluggish start L.A. Confidential charges like a crazed wildebeest through the plot. Packed with instants that take your breath away, after a while your head spins under the scorching barrage of information - yet the film retains its clarity. Even better, the writers play it straight with the audience; there are no tricks here, unlike lesser films that take you for a mug.
This is, simply, a movie destined to become a classic. Sure it's violent and dramatically labyrinthine, yet both elements are appropriate. No doubt Ed becomes everything that he once despised, yet this too makes sense. It's true that much of Ellroy's writing has been left out, yet what's retained could hardly be improved upon. Against these, and other, objections L.A. Confidential stands firm as an experience to be savoured.
This film was nominated for review by Jo Sims.
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