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L.A. constipation Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential is Chinatown lite by MATTHEW HAYS
Accolades like this, naturally, can only lead to disappointment. The cast is the standout here: Kevin Spacey plays a camera-loving cop who does whatever he can to give sleazoid photographer Danny DeVito exclusive shots of local celebs being caught red-handed at various lurid crimes. Guy Pearce plays the honest cop, one who strives for integrity in a force otherwise rife with abuse and corruption. Russell Crowe plays a virtuous defender of women's honour throughout the film. Kim Basinger is the tragic hooker in love with Crowe. L.A. Confidential, which was co-written by Hanson and Brian Helgeland and is based on the James Ellroy novel, moves along at a machine-gun pace, which is one of the best things in this film. This does lead to some plot confusion (thus, I suspect, The Big Sleep references) as well some severe character confusion (I kept getting Pearce and Spacey's character tics mixed up). Confidential is entertaining, however, and doesn't appear to drag at all during its running time. But this is simply no Chinatown, and film aficionados should know better than to be making that leap. Hanson is the director behind such connect-the-dot moviemaking as The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild, and his style is intact here. There is little or no subtlety, most of the emotionally intense scenes feel terrifically overwrought and there is none of the depth of Polanski's vision. Also disappointing is the ending, which is ludicrous and cheap. Ellroy defended the conclusion as being true to his novel, but it should have been changed--it feels entirely tacked-on and unbelievable. L.A. Confidential feels steeped in nostalgia. Not just because of its flashy, striking set design, but because of what the filmmakers are trying to do: make another truly great film noir. Despite the hefty talent involved here, Hanson is clearly not up to the task of renovating the style. Rapid montage editing, cool-looking actors, Basinger's drop-dead-gorgeous looks and apartment and production values to die for simply do not make up for a lack of depth of this order. The nostalgia we're left with is not a happy one--it's of the been-there, done-that vein. L.A. Confidential opens this Friday, Sept. 19. See film listings for showtimes |
The hype machine was in serious overdrive at the Toronto Film Fest this year, as the major talent populating L.A. Confidential was paraded through junkets and a press conference to bolster the film. Audiences swooned over the artfully shot film; critics were soon making fawning references to the cop melodrama. Chinatown and The Big Sleep were evoked in an effort to convey the calibre of this two-hour-plus epic.