L.A. Confidential Recut

Pretty freaking swell edit.

First of all, I would like to apologize to Neglify, as it has taken me a very long time to finally watch this. Second of all, I would like to thank Neglify for making such a cool edit.

Here, LA Confidential is a non-stop noir thriller. And it's awesome. Why don't they make movies like this anymore? I know the phrase is overused, but I really feel like we're missing out. Anyway, seamless editing here. Really seamless. I knew I was missing stuff from the original, but from where? I didn't know. Really flawless editing. And a lot less Kim Basinger. That's always a plus.

So I guess the question is, did I prefer this version to the original? I think my answer is no. Like I said, here LA Confidential is a non-stop noir thriller. I just feel like the original is all of that and then some. But I really love this edit. Cutting back on Basinger and removing the epilogue really does work very well. I'm glad to have this version of the film as well as the original. Awesome work.

January 17, 2012

L.A. Confidential has long been on my rather shameful list of movies I somehow missed seeing, but knew I needed to. So with Neglify’s release I finally had the kick to go out and buy the film and watch it so I could see what this FEOTM winner had done.

I should first start with my brief evaluation of the original. Midway through watching it I turned to my wife and pondered what in the world Neglify would edit in this as we were both enjoying the film immensely. It’s simply a great movie. When the film finally closed I suspected at least one aspect that he’d cut, but not enough to qualify as an edit on the site, let-alone earn a victory in the competition. The original is a great flick, but ultimately if its intention was to be in the mold of the classic Film Noir’s, it failed at the ending. Simple rule of a film noir, if the hero gets what he wants at the end of the film, something has gone wrong.

I don’t know their intentions for making the film, but that was my only issue with it. But once in awhile a happy ending is nice.

So then on to Neglify's edit.

Video Quality
First I must say that I watched his V2 with an improved source, and watched it on a 52″ plasma and my brand spanking new Sony BD player. I had originally watched the film on BD, and I have to say that Neg’s edition holds up spectacularly. Some of this perhaps is the upscaling of my BD player, but the image was beautiful. 10/10

Audio Quality
My rear speakers are currently on the fritz so I didn’t get the full 5.1 treatment, but even still audio was sharp and clear. 10/10

Video Editing
Being that the theatrical is a good movie in its own right there was not a massive amount of cutting necessary for this film, but when done, it was done seamlessly. If I hadn’t seen the original first, I’d have never spotted a single edit. Great work from a first-time faneditor. 10/10

Audio Editing
Likewise, audio was smooth. Transitions were invisible. 10/10

Overall Story
Here is the real question, what of his choices? How does this edit execute on the editor’s goals and how does it stack up against the original? Overall Neglify has not done anything stunning with this edit. His cuts were very simple, but effective at helping steer this film to being more classic Noir. I had no issues with the Bud/Lynn storyline. In this new version Bud’s character is more flat and lacks depth, but this is not a terrible thing and more one of preference.

The edit succeeds in making the movie more classic Noir and I would recommend to any fan of the original. This doesn’t replace my original copy by any means, and it comes down to more of do I want to see the happy ending or the more classic Noir ending.

This is a really tough call for me because by the numbers, Neglify had done everything right. His technical execution is flawless and his story improvement leaves no holes and achieves his goals. But the edit itself is exceptionally straightforward without doing anything drastic. It doesn’t seem fair to penalize Neglify for tackling an movie that doesn’t actually start out horrible.

In terms of Story I can only give this an 8/10 simply because it doesn’t make a dramatic change in the film.

Overall Score
However, when looking at the full execution in terms of editing quality and technical quality I have to give the entire edit overall 9/10

Great job!