Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Los Angeles Police Department detective Russell Poole has spent years trying to solve his biggest case -- the murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur -- but after two decades, the investigation remains open. Jack Jackson, a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career, is determined to find out why. In search of the truth, the two team up and unravel a growing web of institutional corruption and lies.
City of Lies tackles the real-world cold cases of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. with reasonable earnestness, anchored by Johnny Depp's committed performance as Det. Russell Poole. The plot follows a fairly familiar investigative-thriller template — veteran detective pairs with desperate journalist to expose institutional corruption — without adding much structural ingenuity. The LAPD corruption angle is compelling but the film struggles to synthesize its many threads into a satisfying narrative. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable, evoking a standard prestige crime-drama aesthetic. Novelty is limited given the subject matter has been covered in documentaries and prior media, and the buddy-investigator framing feels formulaic. The ending is particularly weak, failing to deliver catharsis or meaningful resolution, which is partly inevitable given the real cases remain unsolved but is nonetheless dramatically unsatisfying.