Leben und Sterben in L.A.

Abounding with nudity and violence, Friedkin’s merciless (to both the viewer and the characters), testosterone-fuelled, electropop-laden neo-noir (the big city, mercurial women and a cynical lone-wolf detective) can be thought of as a bitter postscript to The French Connection. The biggest threat to law and order in yuppie-era America is not drugs, but counterfeit money; the lifestyle and methods of the good guys and bad guys are comparable and though 1980s cops have the same bulldog nature as Popeye Doyle, they don’t hunt bad guys down so much for the sake of justice, but for the adrenaline rush. The overabundance of delights offered by consumer society pushed them into a state of numbness that forces them to seek out stimuli of a more extreme nature. Dangerous games with master criminals are as much an adrenaline sport for them as bungee-jumping. The multiple storylines, the preference for depersonalised sets and fetishistic interest in phenomena characteristic of the time (music, art, fashion) indicate an attempt to offer a portrait of the Zeitgeist rather than individual characters, whose perspective the camera adopts only in order to amplify the visceral effect (the chase, the point of view of a victim staring down the barrel of a gun). Besides the fact that this good-bad film is unconventional in terms of genre and narrative, you will learn more from it about the ideological foundations of American society in the 1980s than you would from any history textbook. 85% (08.08.2023)

Reviewing this movie is like a seesaw - 5 stars and an enthusiastic review alternate with 2 stars and a disgruntled reaction. I consider this film to be above average in the genre, although it doesn't belong to the absolute top and there are some weaker or unresolved moments in the screenplay, as well as two or three missteps by William Friedkin (for example, the elimination of the main villain is simply poorly shot). However, it is balanced by both the likable cast, it's pleasing to see William Petersen when he wasn't yet one of the elite investigators from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and some fresh ideas and surprising twists. The theme is also pleasing. For once, we have an American crime story that doesn't deal with the drug scene and corruption. The highlight of the film and the reason for a 4-star rating for me is the excellent car chase. Whenever I spot dozens of lunatics on the freeway rushing toward me in the opposite direction and arrogantly tapping their foreheads, I think of the film characters from this scene. Overall impression: 75%. (07.02.2010)

A picture from the days when Petersen wasn’t so flabby, a time when it was fashionable to wear light blue jeans and money was printed at home. From the beginning, Friedkin presents a traditional thriller and not much happens until the ingenious chase through the concrete jungle of L.A. But he puts his foot on the gas in the second half of the movie turning it into an unpredictable genre masterpiece. The finale is a raised middle finger to all crime movie clichés. Really good. (27.02.2013)

Verschiedene. Genauso wie die legendäre Erkennungsmelodie von Wang Chung, die sich langsam mit der aufgehenden Sonne über L.A. senkt und dann mit aggressiven Beats auf die Sinne der Zuschauer einschlägt, bringt der gesamte Film von Friedkin ständig überraschende Wendungen und Momente ästhetischer Brutalität in die langsam fließende Neo-Noir-Geschichte, um schließlich in ein völlig nihilistisches Finale zu münden. Also alles, was ich mag. Leben und Sterben in L.A. bedeutet reine Achtzigerjahre und gleichzeitig ein bemerkenswerter Thriller mit einem einzigartigen Stil. Mein Lieblings-Friedkin. Und ein Film, den ich gerne irgendwann auf großer Leinwand mit möglichst hochwertigem Sound sehen würde. (08.11.2019)