After burning the midnight oil well into early Tuesday morning, I've completed a timely exposition on L.A. Confidential for a DVDTalk article. Closing up this review drained just about any creative thoughts I had fluttering around in my brain for the day. I had forgotten how much enjoyment can be had in this film, as well as how much precise social and moral critique loom underneath its pulpy content. It's a great picture that, thankfully, brought domestic concentration to Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe -- two relatively unknown actors at the time. Plus, Kim Basinger's radiant performance is by far the strongest I've ever seen from her. "[L.A. Confidential] ... soaks into the hopping 1950s Californian prestige, ushered in with velvet snarkiness by our "noble reporter" of Hush-Hush magazine. Instead of the beauty behind it all, Hanson's adaption of James Ellroy's novel focuses on loyalty, corruption, and justice within the Los Angeles Police Department. Well written from floor to ceiling with surprisingly sharp prose from Payback director Brian Helgeland, L.A. Confidential's script dissects the hell out of several distinct characters rich with starkly differing methodologies. It's easily one of the best films of the nineties, and grandly sits in the company of the likes of Welles' Touch of Evil and Kubrick's The Killing as one of the better detective noir films to date."
Get the full skinny here at DVDTalk.
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Thoughts? Love to hear 'em -- if they're kept clean and civil.