I’ve been playing the video game “L.A. Noire” for the last few weeks, and a game critic I admire said the game’s story borrowed heavily from the 1997 “L.A. Confidential.” I had seen the film before, but hadn’t remembered it for whatever reason. And the two stories do have their similarities, but the film’s rich characterization, stark yet colorful cinematography and gritty action sequences just can’t be beat by a video game.
It’s a story of the corrupt and broken Los Angeles police department in the 1950s when the actions of the police could still be brushed under the rug and their image manipulated within the press and how three completely different cops respond to that environment. Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce are the three cops, each of them giving great performances and giving the film more memorable moments than almost any noir made in the ‘40s.
That’s not to say “L.A. Confidential” is the best noir of all time, but the reason it stands out as a unique example of a noir is because while it has the complexity of “The Big Sleep” and the sleazy characters of “Double Indemnity,” it also has the modern vigor and intensity of other ‘90s action films.
Be it in the disturbing images Spacey’s Jack Vincennes stumbles across or the brutal violence executed by Crowe’s Bud White, the movie’s visceral edge is unlike any you would see while the production code is in place.
And some of those action segments are spectacular. One of Bud’s tough highlights is how he manhandles the DA in a good cop/bad cop routine, first smashing him into a mirror, then shoving his face into a toilet and finally breaking through his window barrier until he’s dangling stories above the ground. Another is when he shoves a suspect against the wall, takes all but one bullet out of his gun and begins pulling the trigger, finding three empty chambers before the guy talks.
Not to mention the shootout at the end. In another movie, this ending would be a copout; here, it’s one of the best movie shootouts ever made it’s so well executed.
The movie isn’t just violent either. Guy Pearce’s Ed Exley has dialogue that are a study in slyness, and Jack has a number of crafty and funny one-liners, specifically involving Ed and Lana Turner, but if you haven’t seen the film, I’ll leave that one as a surprise.
All the pieces of this labyrinth puzzle come together so brilliantly and reveal themselves so simply that it’s a thrill to all absorb. It’s a wonderful late entry into the noir genre.