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L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson 1997)
L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson 1997)
Loved the opening scene of the movie which gave a historical overview of L.A., that was like manna to me. I love the 1950s in general, its my favorite decade. So anytime a movie is set in the 1950s it scores high points with me.
I loved the first hour of the film in how it introduced us to the corrupt world of the LAPD. All three of the police officers were very interesting and very varied from one another. But what I liked most was the insiders view into the political workings of the Los Angeles police department. I find that sort of stuff fascinating. The first hour of the film was perfect! Culminating in the intense interrogation of the three black suspects. All that felt very real.
But then the tone of the film changed in the second half and it became more of an action buddy-cop film with people dropping like flies. In the first half I was convinced this would be a 5 star film for me. But as the film progressed it got more action packed and changed in tone. That's when I started losing interest.
The end scene was just ridiculous. Guy Pierce and Russell Crowe arrive at the old motel and quickly find out it's a set up, but declare it's too late to get out of there. So they hold up in a motel room and have an old western style shoot out...Why didn't they just get into their cars and leave? Well I guess it's so we can have a big body count with people being shot right and left. I've never been a fan of action type films and sadly that's how this film ended up.
I loved the first hour of the film in how it introduced us to the corrupt world of the LAPD. All three of the police officers were very interesting and very varied from one another. But what I liked most was the insiders view into the political workings of the Los Angeles police department. I find that sort of stuff fascinating. The first hour of the film was perfect! Culminating in the intense interrogation of the three black suspects. All that felt very real.
But then the tone of the film changed in the second half and it became more of an action buddy-cop film with people dropping like flies. In the first half I was convinced this would be a 5 star film for me. But as the film progressed it got more action packed and changed in tone. That's when I started losing interest.
The end scene was just ridiculous. Guy Pierce and Russell Crowe arrive at the old motel and quickly find out it's a set up, but declare it's too late to get out of there. So they hold up in a motel room and have an old western style shoot out...Why didn't they just get into their cars and leave? Well I guess it's so we can have a big body count with people being shot right and left. I've never been a fan of action type films and sadly that's how this film ended up.