L.A. Secrets grossed $130 million worldwide and was not released in China. Costs $0.35 billion. Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Crime. Directed by: Curtis Hansen. Producer country: United States. Released in 1997.
This is the pinnacle of Hollywood crime (netizen reviews). This film feels very cool. It can be regarded as a classic of crime. The so-called classic, generally means that it cannot be copied and is difficult to surpass.
There are three special aesthetics to this film.
The first beauty comes from the extremely distinct personalities of the three police officers. One is police officer Russell Crowe. Hot personality, daring to be bold, love and hate. Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors. The acting skills are exploded, and you can switch freely between the mighty hero and the professor of Ruya. (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Robin Hood, Superman: Body of Steel). Especially after watching "A Beautiful Mind", I didn't realize that Professor Nash was actually played by the protagonist of "Gladiator". And the police officer played in this film is even more fiery and powerful.
The second officer with a strong personality is Kevin Spacey, who is capable, complex, and black-and-white. He starred in "Seven Deadly Sins", "Very Suspect", "American Beauty", "Superman Returns", "The Life of David Gore" and so on. Kevin Spacey's personality is similar to Russell Crowe's, and I couldn't tell them apart at first. In 2017, Kevin Spacey announced that he was gay and chose to come out, and was also deeply involved in a sexual assault scandal. In this way, the real-life Kevin Spacey is really similar to the character played in this film. Or show the level of the director (casting) from one side.
The third officer with a strong personality is, of course, Guy Pierce. Confident and persistent, intelligent and capable, extraordinary ability. The descendants of the police officers have done everything around finding out the murderer of their father. In particular, one of his scenes interrogating black people is extremely impressive. Guy Pierce is the star of Fragments of Memory.
The second kind of beauty comes from rhythm. Crisp, crisp, cheerful and unexpected. For example, when rescuing the imprisoned girl, Russell Crowe asked to enter the scene 1 minute early, shot the suspect immediately when he saw him, did not hesitate for even a second, and then quickly faked the scene of the suspect's shooting while others rushed into the house.
The third kind of beauty comes from violence. Whether it is the fight and interrogation between the police and the criminal, or the fighting and confrontation within the police, it is full of the hormones of the man's explosion, which makes people feel a kind of explosive tension. This kind of beauty, it feels very enjoyable.
People (mostly men) love action movies and violence and have an intrinsic physiological basis. Dopamine is a brain chemical that brings energy and motivation. Studies have shown that dopamine deficiency is prevalent in men, and women may also experience some low dopamine symptoms, but this phenomenon is not common and not too severe.
Once men lack dopamine, they will involuntarily seek behaviors that can stimulate dopamine secretion. For example, men are always attracted to sports, action movies, and dangerous activities that stimulate dopamine secretion. The lower a man's dopamine levels, the more he will rely on these behaviors that energize him. That's the inner secret that men love to watch action and violent movies.
There are two flaws in the film. One is the love between a police officer and a prostitute. If Russell Crowe's love affair with the prostitute is barely justified, then the love between Officer Ed and the prostitute is completely illogical and unreliable, and it is all about trying to make up the plot. As a man who is bent on avenging his father, wise and restrained, and as a chief, Ed easily has an affair with a prostitute, which is contrary to the character of the character.
The second disadvantage is that the relationship between the characters is too much and too complicated, and there are as many as 80 characters with lines in the film. Therefore, the narrative is very difficult, and it is a bit difficult to understand. After reading the content introduction, I can roughly understand it. The characters should be simplified a little more, properly focused, and the plot can be explained more clearly.