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Review

An engrossing, rock-'em-sock-'em study of cops, corruption, racism and romance in 1950s Los Angeles, Hanson's marvelous adaptation of James Ellroy's densely written multicharacter novel is a thriller with blood, sweat and guts. The film follows three distinctly different cops on the LAPD: Crowe, a brooding, tough-as-nails veteran who lives by his own code of ethics; Spacey, a cop who moonlights as an advisor for a reality-based TV show; and Pearce, a determined college grad whose desire for honesty gets him in trouble with other members of the force. This trio of crime-stoppers are stirred into a batch of police brutality, Hollywood sleaze and political hoi-polloi after a group of people -- including Crowe's former partner -- are massacred at a downtown eatery. While the police captain (Cromwell) and his crew finger local black youths as the killers, Pearce is never convinced and digs deeper into the case, uniting the three cops to uncover the truth. Showcasing terrific period design, stylish but unobtrusive visuals and a crackerjack adaptation of difficult material, the film looks and sounds great. L.A. Confidential may not exactly be Chinatown, but it's most definitely in the same neighborhood. Even Jake Gittes would be impressed.