L.A. Confidential—An Intriguing Puzzle Box Film Noir
Like all great film noirs, at the core of LA Confidential is an intriguing puzzle box of a mystery. The story features a lot of different plot threads. And like in any great film noir mystery, the fun comes from watching all these plot threads come together with a final twist that reveals how they were all connected. Its script feels intricately constructed, as the film uses each plot detail and line of dialogue as setups that eventually pay off later in the story, making the film incredibly satisfying for those paying attention.
But what elevates the narrative is its portrayal of its setting and characters. The period 1950s setting feels authentic in its construction, production design, and cinematography with primarily natural lighting, adding this lived-in feel to its portrayal of 1950s Los Angeles. The film wears its classic film noir inspirations on its sleeves, as like in all the great film noir stories that inspired it, it fills its 1950s Los Angeles with conspiracy and seedy criminal under-bellies. But unlike its inspirations, its setting feels a lot tougher, meaner, and more realistic, with the film showing the crime within its Los Angeles setting being controlled through brute police force and a political system that allows its many police characters to feel like they're above the law. It feels like a classic film noir setting with a grittier, more realistic edge.
It's the characters, though, that most elevate the story. The film's three leads fit the three main archetypes of your standard film noir narrative: the sleazy detective, the hothead detective, and the do-gooder detective. But what the film does most effectively is peeling away the many layers of these characters, revealing backstories, and showing who these characters are as people so that, after a while, they feel less like archetypes and more like real human beings. These characters also begin with the morality scale of a standard noir narrative, with Jack Vincennes being a sleazy cop who abuses his police power for profit, Bill White as someone whose need to designate himself a protector of women can cause him to lash out into violence prematurely, and Ed Exley who wants to do the right thing no matter the cost to himself or others. Throughout the film, the story puts the three leads into situations that test their morals, improving or worsening their sense of morality, making them feel like more complex characters.
The film's complex mystery, with its many different intersecting plot threads, can be a bit confusing and difficult to follow at points. The dialogue, which delivered exposition rapidly, didn't always help. However, once the film revealed the connective tissue between these different characters and plot threads, the story became far more cohesive and, thus, incredibly satisfying to watch.
The film's complex plot may, at times, be the film's weakness, with its plot being a bit confusing at points. However, that complexity also stands as its biggest strength. LA Confidential relishes in its complexity, be it in its characters' emotional and moral complexities, its in-depth portrayal of its 1950s LA setting, or the intricacies of its plot.
Currently streaming on Hulu and Netflix in the U.S
