The Black Dahlia Review
by Tim Voon (winklebeck AT hotmail DOT com)November 27th, 2006
Black Dahlia, The (2006)
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 2006 Timothy Voon
2 out of 5 stars
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swan Director: Brian De Palma
Screenplay: Josh Friedman, based on the novel by James Ellroy
This is a visually sumptuous film. Brian De Palma is really a master of the noir film style, the set designs, costumes and props are truly authentic and wonderful to behold. Unfortunately, this is as good as the movie gets. The plot, direction and mediocre acting, sinks this movie into disappointment.
The story is about two detectives Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichart (Josh Hartnett), who are on the trail of the murderer of the actress Elizabeth Short, who is also known as 'The Black Dahlia'. She was 'halved', disemboweled, drained of blood and disfigured.
Part of the problem with 'The Black Dahlia' is that it is very hard to follow. There is a plethora of events going on this movie, and it is difficult to figure out what is going on for the most part of the movie. There is torture, murder, lesbians, gangsters, boxing, dildos and porn, giving this movie a very uneven feel. A lot of the scenes are unnecessarily dragged out, as if De Palma wants to milk every scene for all its worth. I also found the draggy pace of the movie annoyingly slow as well.
There are a lot of events, like the boxing scenes which are thrown into this movie but for little purpose. Bucky's demented father is seen shooting birds then brushed over before flitting to another unrelated scene. Lee and Bucky jump from one investigation to the next without any real conclusion, until they hit the case of 'The Black Dahlia'. Their relationship with Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson) is summed up with the three of them holding hands in a movie cinema. This is probably the movie highlight, besides the lesbian scenes and watching Hilary Swank shag Josh Hartnett dressed only in pearls (Hilary not Josh).
When the movie ends and a solution to the mystery provided, I found it trite and unbelievable. It was contrived and too little is shown in the movie to give a proper explanation of motive. Furthermore, I didn't believe the characters that committed the crime, were physically/mentally capable of carrying out the murders.
I am not sure if the problem lies with the translation of book to film, or the fact that the story was not very good to begin with. I feel it could be a mixture of both. Unfortunately the mumbo jumbo plot spoils the beautiful look of a movie that could have been very good. What does not help is that although the actors are beautiful to look at in this movie, unfortunately they come across very uncomfortable on screen. The other movie of this genre that comes to mind is 'L.A. Confidential', which is far superior in the acting and story
departments.
Timothy Voon
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