Parents need to know that this isn't a thrill-ride cops-a-go-go actioner for kids. Laden with vicious homicide, numerous subplots and multiple characters, it depicts deep police-force corruption and entrenched brutality in law-enforcement. Even its "heroic" policemen are badly flawed, self-serving characters. One crusades chivalrously against assailants who batter women; yet he himself becomes one, out of sexual jealousy. Swear words flow thicker than the bloody wounds, and there is much talk of prostitution and sex.
Positive messages:With cops like these, who needs gangsters? Police use bullying, blackmail and frame-up tactics against suspects, showing particular hatred for minorities. One police character says planting evidence and using brutality is standard for how cop detectives operate. Though technically "good" guys, Exley and White have their ruthless dark sides and both sleep with the same glamour-girl prostitute, though they manage to set aside their hatred for each other in the end.
Violence:Vicious beat-downs, gun-downs, men riddled bloodily with machine-gun and shotgun blasts. People with slashed wrists/throats/legs; bloody bodies pile up after a massacre. A rotted, rat-eaten corpse. The heroine is slapped around by a boyfriend.
Sex:Revealing clothing and brief female nudity, in bed (including a tied-up rape victim) and in the morgue. References to masturbation and pornography. Hints of kinky sex. The heroine is a working prostitute.
Language:"F--k" and "s--t" uttered frequently, and a lot of derogatory terms for women.
If the shootout didn't seem like an attempt to bring in more audience members, if the plot was rearranged in flashback form to add to the post-noir effect, and if it didn't seem so full of itself, L.A. Confidential would be perfect.
The movie focuses on 3 cops and a prostitute. I think it is clear that with this protagonists the movie has violence and sex as thematic element.
But there is never anything strong or inapproriate for mature tweens. Some corpses are shown, sometimes bloody, sometimes decaying.
The scenes are not disturbing.
The character played by Russel Crowe is rude and a bit violent, but in contrast to him the character played by Guy Pearce is calm and gently. The role played by Kevin Spacey is neutral.
The violence is never depicted in a way it could disturb or harm tweens.
The movies has a prostitute as one of the protagonists, so there is sexual talk.
No strong sexuality is depicted.
The language is average R-profanity.
If you don't mind the language, it is suitable for viewers 12 and up. And nowadays it would have been rated 15 in the UK and Ireland, not 18.
Kim Basinger really deserved the Oscar she got for her role.
Also Guy Pearce and Russel Crowe did an excellent job. Kevin Spacey is a very good actor, but this is not his best role, though not bad.
Overall, a good and well made thriller.