Impeccably set in the post-war years, the story of this film noir centres on four burly cops who form an elite squad, none too fussy about the way they eliminate criminal elements in LA. Called to the scene of a crime, they find a voluptuous brunette (Jennifer Connelly) virtually buried by some tremendous impact in a quarry. Disfigured as she is, the cops' leader (Nick Nolte) recognises her as the girl with whom he recently had an affair. Then he gets a piece of film that shows her most recent lover was the director (John Malkovich) of an atomic energy research station. Things get down and dirty after that, with the FBI, headed by Daniel Baldwin, stooping lowest of all. It's gruff, thick-ear, tolerably entertaining stuff with an amazing all-star cast.