The black dahlia is set in 1940s l.A. Two cops bucky bleichert & his partner lee blanchard investigate the death of elizabeth short a young woman found brutally murdered. Bucky soon realizes his girlfriend had ties to the deceased & soon after that he begins uncovering corruption in the police department. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/27/2009 Starring: Josh Hartnett Aaron Eckhart Run time: 122 minutes Rating: R Director: Brian Depalma
The Black Dahlia drips with film noir atmospherics as it unspools a lurid and complicated story taken from James Ellroy's true-crime-inspired novel of the same name. Two boxers-turned-cops--Lee "Mr. Fire" Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart, Thank You For Smoking) and Bucky "Mr. Ice" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett, Black Hawk Down)--are morally tested as they pursue the killer of a young would-be actress, grappling with corruption, narcissism, stag films, and family madness along the way. L.A. Confidential turned Ellroy's heated prose into a taut, compelling movie, but The Black Dahlia collapses like a soggy meringue. Director Brian De Palma (who once made such vibrant, entertaining movies as Carrie and The Untouchables) can't muster the energy to craft one of his trademark bravura action sequences and seems outright bored by the more mundane tasks of shaping performances and establishing mood. The actors flounder; Eckhart seems to be emoting for two, perhaps to compensate for Hartnett's bland lack of affect; even actresses as dependable as Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) and Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry) give clumsy, unconvincing performances. The one exception is an unsettling performance by Mia Kirshner (Exotica) as the doomed actress, seen only in perverse screen tests and stag films. The story is incomprehensible (and when you can follow it, it's silly); the dialogue is atrocious; the characters make hardly any sense from scene to scene. The movie is, however, good for many moments of absurd camp, such as when Bucky enters the most lavish, palatial lesbian bar you'll ever see, featuring a Busby-Berkeley-style stairway of smooching babes and a crooning k.d. lang. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 2.0 / 5.0
OK...what was this?:
This will be the shortest review I have ever written. This film has little to do (AT ALL) with the Black Dahlia. It is a series of disjointed scenes that are a good depiction of L.A. in the 40's-but that's it. For sensationalistic purposes, the film maker decided to throw in the Black Dahlia case, that has but a few minutes in the whole film. It was an attempt at 'Film Noir' in color. The title and promotional material are all very, very deceptive. "Josh Hartnett is hot" is about the only feeling one comes... more info
The Black Dahlia:
I do not own the movie and will not own it. I saw the movie in the theater and it was a very bizzare movie. Even though it was based on a true story it was still hard to follow on screen. If the reviews could give minus stars then I would give it a negative 1. I just don't think it is worth buying and definately was not worth seeing to begin with.
The Blah Dahlia:
Wow - I didn't know they still made movies this bad. I knew Brian De Palma's reputation had taken a beating in the last decade or so, but I really understand why now. This was easily the worst movie I had seen in a long time. And a warning for anyone who is interested in seeing this film because of the real Black Dahlia murder: "The Black Dahlia", the film, treats it as nothing more than a springboard and a background. The very real murder is secondary or perhaps tertiary to the silly and contrived plot,... more info
The Worst Film of the Year?:
This historical drama is inspired by a true crime from 1947, the murder of Elizabeth Short. The film opens with a riot in 1945 Los Angeles. Sailors were attacking the "zoot suiters" because of a prior attack on sailors. There is a plan to stage some boxing matches to help pass a municipal bond issue. There is a domestic scene that is supposed to mean something. Some of those hats don't have the wide brims of that era. Was the fight realistic? Do those scenes of entertainment have a meaning? There is a... more info
