Rating of
3.5/4
"Paranoia is just reality on a finer scale".
Indyfreak - wrote on 02/01/19
Kathryn Bigelow's relentlessly paced neo-noir thriller imagines a crime riddled Los Angeles twenty minutes into the future where memories can be saved via recording discs and can lead to the ultimate thrill or worse, the ultimate crime. Bigelow mines the time honored detective fiction tropes to populate the story with hardened ex-cops, sleazy private detectives, tough dames, slinky femme fatales, corrupt policemen, and vicious killers.
Ralph Fiennes is believable as an unlikely hero and Angela Bassett is a standout as his wise strong willed friend. The pair navigate through LA's underworld on the eve of the new millenium trying to solve a complex conspiracy that encompasses sex, murder, racism, and power. The timing of the film's release really captures the tense angry mood that Los Angeles was doubtlessly experiencing in the aftermath of the 1992 riots and the OJ Simpson trial.
Bigelow's direction packs quite a punch and the POV camerawork does an excellent job of making the audience feel a participant in the plot.
