To Live And Die In L.A. Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1985

To Live And Die In L.A. is a gritty crime-thriller that features a duo of Secret Service agents hot on the trail of a crafty counterfeiter. When one of the agents is brutally killed, his partner swears to avenge him and bring the killer to justice no matter what it takes.

Sounds like a pretty common and generic theme in crime movies, right? Well, To Live And Die In L.A. is anything but common and generic…

Directed by William Friedkin, perhaps best known for his work The French Connection, To Live And Die In L.A. is a gritty film that studies the tenuous line that exists between law and lawlessness.

Richard Chance (William Petersen) swears to take a notorious counterfeiter (Eric Masters played by Willem Dafoe) down using any means necessary after his partner is murdered during an investigation into his criminal operations. If this means involving his new straight-shooting partner, John Vukovich (John Pankow), in his morally ambiguous quest for revenge, so be it. Chance is a relentless machine with only one thing on his mind: Eric Masters.

The basic plot is a fairly overused concept, but To Live And Die In L.A. drastically ups the ante with an absorbing and intelligent storyline, heart-pounding action and unexpected plot twists.

Willem Dafoe gives a flawless performance as Eric Masters, the impressively crafty counterfeiter that easily stays one step ahead of the law. His performance lends Masters a cool, calm and collected demeanor that barely conceals his propensity for sudden and ruthless violence, all the while subtly an assortment of other natural personality traits or flaws. In other words, Dafoe lends his character a disturbingly genuine human portrait that we can relate with. Masters is evil and dangerous, but not so much that he can be dismissed as a simple movie caricature. He could easily reside in our world.

William Petersen puts forth an equally deep and nuanced performance as a Secret Service agent that loses sight of which side of the law he's truly on. Although he's one of the "good guys," there's little doubt that he's as violent and dangerous as the criminal he chases. Whereas most movies fail to truly capture the essence of a rogue law enforcement agent, Petersen's Richard Chance absolutely nails it. He's a true anti-hero and it's difficult to be in his corner as we witness him stomp on the law and suck innocents into his maelstrom of violence.

John Pankow's performance as Petersen's partner is fairly convincing also. Vukovich begins as an earnest and honest agent, but soon he becomes entangled against his will in Petersen's anarchic web. Throughout the film he must try to balance his loyalty to his rogue partner with his desire to escape the cycle of chaos, lest he be dragged down to the same level as Petersen.

The dramatic story and characters certainly make for an involving tale, but another highlight in To Live And Die In L.A. is a frantic car chase that occurs towards the latter half of the movie. Normally I'm not a fan of car chase scenes – they tend to all be alike, so instead of exciting me they actually do the opposite and drag the films for me. That being said, this movie features one of the best car chases in movie history, one that immediately captured my attention and held onto it tightly throughout the reckless chase.

One word of caution: this dark story is definitely intended for adults. It does not shy away from exhibiting explicit scenes of violence, nudity and profanity, and while all three were definitely needed to properly portray the atmosphere of the film, younger or sensitive viewers may not be prepared for what is in store for them.

As a side note, Wang Chung, one of the 80's more popular Pop/New Wave bands, was responsible for creating the soundtrack for To Love And Die In L.A., and if you enjoy that genre of music you should definitely enjoy their soundtrack. It compliments the atmosphere of the film well, and also serves as a great standalone 80's Pop album. (I own both the film and the movie soundtrack.)

To Live And Die In L.A. is one step short of being a movie classic, but it's still ranks right up there as one of the essential 80's films to own for fans of the decade. If you haven't yet had the chance to watch this masterpiece, you don't know what you're missing.

Movie rating: 9 stars

If you enjoyed To Live and Die in L.A. you may also find the following films to be of interest:

Enjoy the To Live and Die in L.A. experience in the comfort of your own home with these products!

DVD

Soundtrack

Poster

To Live and Die in L.A.
Buy this Mini Poster at AllPosters.com

Movie Sitemap

Wondering if the Netflix service is all
it's cracked up to be? Read our
detailed review and find out!