Brendan Frye: Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you.

Like much of the neo-noir that has graced our screens both in a contemporary, and period setting, “Brick” begins at the end. As we’ve seen in the device exemplified in “Sunset Boulevard,” we begin right at the tail end of the mystery. Where is Brendan’s ex-girlfriend Emily (Emile DeRavin is both unlikable, and heartbreaking)? What I can tell you is that most audiences for this film won’t even realize that Johnson is paying homage to some of the greatest noir films ever made. From outright nods to Humphrey Bogart, and films like “The Maltese Falcon,” there are many elements with the same basic premise. Johnson never fills his audience in, but they’re watching noir set in modern times. They’re watching high schoolers speak like twenties charlatans, and gumshoes, they’re hearing dialogue that’s been muttered in films like “The Big Sleep.”

Come hell or high water. With the help of contacts like “The Brain,” a wiz in almost every bit of information, and the mysterious Laura, he has to track down a mysterious persona named The Pin. But in the midst of interrogation and beatings, the trail becomes much tougher, and much deadlier. Goddamn, when is Joseph Gordon Levitt going to be graced with an Oscar? It’s shocking how this cheesy child actor has been able to rise above his tag, and become one of the strongest young actors in film. From “Manic,” to “Mysterious Skin,” Levitt is able to take hold of his roles and steal scenes. In “Brick” he commands the settings and characters, and just makes the film his own. Brendan is a character of many shades. At times he’s a typical noir hero, a man ruined by a dame, who ventures into the underbelly of crime, and slowly finds himself descending into madness at the cost of his own health, while also standing strong as this young man intent on finding out what happened to his ex-lover.

In the midst of high school jocks, and shady cheerleaders, I knew what I was watching was Johnson giving a nod to the noir genre, and “Brick” is a worthy homage. Great performances, an utterly entertaining script, and a story filled with twists, “Brick” mostly lives up to the hype.

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