Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.5

L.A. Confidential Blu-ray Movie Review

A popular film from the '90s rears its head in 1080p, but neither the picture nor the sound offer a "wow" factor.

Reviewed by Greg Maltz November 1, 2008

With a dynamite cast featuring Academy Award winners Kevin Spacey and Russell Crowe, L.A. Confidential received high praise and struck gold--one Oscar for Kim Basinger and another for writers Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson. In September, WENN news reported that the film topped the list of movies about Los Angeles culture, handily beating Boogie Nights, Jackie Brown, Boyz N The Hood, Beverly Hills Cop, The Player, Clueless, Repo Man, Collateral and The Big Lebowski, rated 2-10, respectively. The movie aspires to reclaim the lost art of film noir. But it is insular Hollywood all the way--L.A. stars in an L.A. film based on an L.A. book about evil L.A. authority figures. Maybe that's why it won best Los Angeles movie. Crowe, who plays thuggish officer Bud White, turns in a typically great performance. But the film is hurt by its predictability, spotty production issues and the low-budget way it is stylized.

While most noir is wrapped in an austere, subtle majesty and mysteriousness, L.A. Confidential constantly hits the audience over the head. If it isn't the overdramatized eruptions of violence and corpses or the unnecessary flashbacks showing scenes that played minutes earlier, it's the telegraphed plot twists. If not that, it's Basinger made up to look like Veronica Lake, but lacking real charm or magic. Then we get Danny DeVito's boorish narration, dripping with sarcasm, accompanied by the click-clicking of a typewriter lest we forget he's a newsman. It sounds more like he's auditioning for a part in The Muppets Take L.A. than narrating a serious, dark noir. The film is at its best when it imitates Chinatown, showing period autos driving at night while Chet Baker's trumpet plays somewhere in the score. But the carelessness and poor attention to detail is easy to spot in every scene. One of the most egregious examples is a shot of a slain man whose throat has been slashed. The close-up clearly shows his pulse beating regularly in his jugular vain. The entire feature is fraught with this type of amateur mistakes. The Blu-ray performance does not fare any better, with a decent video transfer that gets off to a rocky start and a Dolby TrueHD track that often sounds a bit muffled and compressed. Warner can at least be commended for including a bonus six-song sampler CD.

Kevin Spacey does his best smug cop impression as officer Jack Vincennes.

The story begins as a shakeup in the Los Angeles police department forces out White's partner. The ex-cop is no sooner given his walking papers than he is killed along with several others in a brutal multiple murder at a diner. Initially, the department arrests African Americans for the crime, but White follows a lead that gradually unravels a broader yarn. First it leads him to a wealthy financier who runs a prostitution ring. But when officers Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) and Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) dig deeper, the trouble really starts. It eventually leads to some highly predictable places, and the climax features an intense shootout. Unfortunately, the entire production is mired in the type of mediocrity described earlier.

Most noir films spotlight a love interest. The intrigue and intensity between such characters as Sam Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon or Jake Gittes and Evelyn Mulray in Chinatown function like high octane fuel for the vehicle of the plot of those classics. But there was no convincing spark in the key love interest in L.A. Confidential. The relationship is unidimensional between White, who is drawn to any woman in distress, and irresistible floozy Lynn Bracken (Basinger), who attracts men to her like moths to a flame. Meanwhile, Spacey is a unique actor who can really sink his style into certain roles. He is at his best when playing a character in a position of weakness; a character who seems to have something to prove, like Verbal in The Usual Suspects or Williamson in Glengarry Glen Ross. But he was not nearly as convincing in the Vincennes role.

L.A. Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For the first moments, the video quality of L.A. Confidential is poor, but consider the source of the opening sequence. It is kluged together from very old footage. When the credits stop rolling, a more modern, defined image appears, which seems a bit out of place with the vintage cars and set elements indicate it's the early 1950s. Of course the style of cinematography is not the only thing out of place. The definition of the Blu-ray shows the gaffes more clearly than ever before, including a large belt that can be seen around the waist of an actor just before he is blown backward--or yanked back by the belt--after a shotgun is fired at him. The list of goofs at imbd.com is a long one and I saw a few incongruities that aren't even mentioned. Getting back to the video, black level is a bit spotty as some dark scenes were clearly brightened to show the characters better. Contrast suffers a bit, too. But overall, the picture is strong and detailed.

Watch the scene where Exley shows up at the Night Owl after the murder. The video shows small, subtle grain or noise that, while unobtrusive, has a discordant digital sheen. The picture is also fairly flat. This combination of features indicates that some application of digital noise reduction may have been used by Warner. Another key feature of L.A. Confidential is its somewhat subdued color palette, leaving skin tones a bit drab and an overall lack of vibrancy and color heat. Ultimately, these are nit picks. Nothing is actually lacking or wrong in the 1080p presentation. The transfer is good and the definition is clearly superior to the DVD/NTSC versions. The detail in faces, clothing, sets and scenery makes Warner's Blu-ray the definitive version of this popular film.

L.A. Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dolby TrueHD track is problematic. While the dialog and score sound clear and well-defined, they lack the dynamic punch delivered on other Blu-ray discs. Dialog, music and effects seem stuck to the speakers and imaging is poor, with a soundstage that seems a bit lifeless, anemic and generally unimpressive. The constricted audio negatively impacts explosions and other loud noises that engage the rear channels. Listen to the shotgun blasts after the officers raid the house of the Night Owl murder suspects. Not only do the gunshots sound shelved and distorted but the way the shots are augmented by the LFE channel and surrounds are even more unnatural. The few times that the subwoofer is used--mostly in shoot-outs and and fist-fighting--is distracting and lacks realism. I understand there was not a big budget for this film, and it comes up against stiff competition in reference-quality audio available on other Blu-rays, but the sound effects here are mediocre.

The one saving grace of the TrueHD track is the score, which features atmospheric large-ensemble recordings of artists popular in the 1950s, such as trumpet player Chet Baker. Rumor has it that Baker, having won a readers poll award, apologized to Miles Davis for placing higher than him. Baker was ok at ballads, but had none of the artistry or chops of Davis or many other trumpet legends of that time. Still, it is enjoyable to hear his brassy lines break in to the Jerry Goldsmith-dominated soundtrack and lend more credence to the noir feel of L.A. Confidential. The bonus CD, though a two-channel production, sounds slightly more dynamic than the same tunes played on the TrueHD track. It features five classics: "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" by Johnny Mercer; "Look for the Silver Lining" by Chet Baker; "Hit the Road to Dreamland" by Betty Hutton, "Wheel of Fortune" by Kay Star; and "Powder Your Face with Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!)" by Dean Martin.

L.A. Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All supplementary material is ported to the BD from the special edition DVD version and some featurettes are originally sourced from the original DVD release. Much of the material is in standard definition, although several documentaries are in high definition, making this Blu-ray disc a definitive version not only for video, but also for supplementary features. This content includes:

Whatever You Desire--the Making of L.A. Confidential: clocking in at 30 minutes, this high-definition documentary features an interviews with director Curtis Hanson. Facing resistance from the studio and a less-than-ideal budget.

A True Ensemble--the Case of L.A. Confidential: another high-definition documentary, this 25 minute featurette allows Hanson to wax philosophic about the reasons he didn't cast big names to the film, but clearly he lacked the budget or story that would be a big draw for bigger actors.

L.A. Confidential from Book to Screen: clocking in at 21 minutes, this high-definition documentary outlines screenwriters Hanson and Helgeland's challenges in the screen adaptation of the book by James Ellroy. Like all such adaptions, the book covers far more than a screenplay for a two-hour movie can cover. But the screenwriters and author discuss the challenges unique to L.A. Confidential.

Sunlight and Shadow--the Visual Style of L.A. Confidential: yet another high-definition featurette, the 21-minute documentary focuses on cinematographer Dante Spinotti. His interviews reveal that he was going for a more modern look to the film and did not want to use film noir cliches. But the fact remains, this was an attempt at film noir, so why didn't Spinotti go with it?

Audio Commentary: as with many commentary tracks on DVD and BD, the comments here are assembled from various interviews. Many actors take part, including Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, Kim Bassinger, Danny DeVito and David Strathairn. Also of note are the author, screenwriters, cinematographer, editor, producer, costume and production designers and even film critic Andrew Sarris. Unfortunately, director Curtis Hanson does not weigh in, but his input is available on the included documentaries. Overall, fans will find much important information in the audio track.

L.A. Confidential TV Pilot: a 47-minute shot in the dark to launch a TV show in 2000 based on the movie. Or the book. Or--more likely--little to do with either and just a failed attempt to try to capitalize on the film's popularity. The experiment, shown in standard definition, stars Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Vincennes, which was just the first of many poor casting choices.

Off the Record: clocking in at 19 minutes, this standard definition making-of documentary will be of interest to serious fans. It includes interviews and screen tests from both Pearce and Crowe.

Rounding out the bonus content is an eight minute low-resolution look at some photos that led to the cinematograpics of the film, a music-only track in DD 5.1 featuring Jerry Goldsmith's score, 15 standard definition vignettes showing famous locations featured in the movie, five minutes worth of low resolution trailers and TV ads and the previously mentioned CD sampler. Altogether a very thorough package containing more L.A. Confidential content than most fans probably ever wanted.

L.A. Confidential Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

With its lack of authenticity, unrealistic relationships between the characters, frequently clumsy eruptions of violence and lust, spotty production gaffes and horrendous DeVito narration in which he even mispronounces Yiddish words, I find it hard to recommend L.A. Confidential. Many movies are predictable, so I didn't have a problem with that aspect, but the rest put me off. I especially disliked when the writers got "cute", using phrases like, "just the facts, just the facts" and relying on other cliches. Only Crowe was able to deliver some intensity and sink his teeth into his role. But that's his gift. He wasn't given much to work with. Of more relevance to HT enthusiasts, the picture and sound are an overall letdown. Add it all up and I can't think of any good reason to recommend this BD. If you like Russell Crowe, I can give a much higher recommendation to Cinderella Man even with the import's high price tag and Master and Commander and if you like Spacey, check out The Usual Suspects. I'd add those to a growing collection, but not L.A. Confidential.