The Black Dahlia

This film is © by Universal Pictures, 2006

Starring:

Josh Hartnett as Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert
Scarlett Johansson as Kay
Hilary Swank Madeleine
Aaron Eckhart as Lee
Mia Kirshner Elizabeth "Betty" Short

Directed by: Brian De Palma

RATING:

It is very rare for a film to appear so promising and be such a great disappointment. I can spot bad movies right away but this one caught me by surprise. When a movie is this poor it is hard for me to know where to begin describing the problems. Well right off the bat, "The Black Dahlia" has very little to do with Betty Short the real life black dahlia. Like many murder mysteries, a great deal of focus is spent on the police or detectives that are on the case. In this film we are treated to the ramblings of Josh Hartnett as Bucky Bleichert where many serious problems arise. Well I'll try to be quick and short about it as I don't expect any readers to have much interest with this film after I tell you how bad it is.

Most of the acting in this movie is sterile and unconvincing. Josh Hartnett seems wrong for the part of narrator and the main protagonist. Scarlett Johansson appears mildly interested in her role for most of the picture. Aaron Eckhart is decent but his character is a mess. Since Mia Kirshner plays Betty Short we hardly see her or get to know anything about her even though this movie is supposed to be about the murder of her character. Now Hilary Swank delivers a great performance and she really makes the part of Madeleine come alive. Madeleine is the only convincing character here. It all goes to waste in this movie though.

Probably one of the reasons the acting was weak is due to a storyline that is uneven and tries very hard to be clever but it's nothing but a bunch of nonsense. A great deal of the picture revolves around Bucky, his partner Lee and Lee's girlfriend Kay. A very weak love triangle is presented which moves along slowly and is totally pointless. Not until the last twenty minutes of the film does the story focus on the murder of the Black Dahlia and that is disappointing as well. This film tries to do too much and success at nothing. There is one brief moment early on in the picture where the viewer feels this movie might actually be good but all of that is dashed slowly and painfully as you reach the end.

There are a few elements of the film that were rather neat and well done while it showcased 1940's Hollywood. That's all this movie has to offer. The rest is a full two hours waste of time. This movie has no real direction and nowhere to go other than create an uninspiring subplot surrounding Detective Lee. It is presented poorly and all the surprises this subplot reveal end up being of very little interest. This movie failed on every level and you want to forget it as soon as you have finished watching it. If I need to say more, stay away from this thing unless you want give up two hours of your life and ten bucks that you will never get back.