The trailer held so much promise. Brian De Palma directing a noirish tale of a true unsolved Hollywood murder mystery, a decent looking cast, and a stylish look all add up to something that could be a very impressive film. What went wrong? I think the first, and most important, misstep is in the advertising. The Black Dahlia is being advertised as a pure murder mystery when it is actually more than that. The mystery is one element, but it involves a number of threads weaving together into a loose tapestry.
This film is a ficitonalized take on the real murder, based on the novel by James Ellroy. The murder is used as a backdrop to the drama surrounding Bucky Bleichert, Lee Blanchard, and Kay Lake, amidst police corruption, sexual politics, and personal vendettas. De Palma and screenwriter Josh Friedman have combined to craft an intriguing noir that is all style and very little substance. It's not that this is a bad thing, but the potential that was contained here was enormous. There was a potential classic contained in this combination of creative talent. De Palma does succeed at delivering a gorgeous looking film, even if the story leaves something to be desired.
Bucky and Blanchard, played by Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart, are a couple of LA cops who are used by the department for their pugilist pasts to drum up support for an unpopular bill. The duo go on to become a successful team, but while tracking a killer, they get sidetracked by the discovery of the body of starlet Elizabeth Ann Short. She was killed in one of the most grisly Hollywood murders of all time.
The story follows Bucky and Blanchard from their boxing match/publicity stunt to their partnership, both on and of the street, as they both have some sort of undefined relationship with Kay (Scarlett Johansson). Kay and Blanchard both become concerned over the impending release of a man from their past who may be looking for revenge. That occurs just as Blanchard finds himself being sucked into the Dahlia murder, obsessing over every detail. Meanwhile, Bucky is also looking into the murder, which finds him meeting with Madeleine Linscott, a rich woman who may know more than what she is letting on, as she uses Bucky, and vice versa.
I did not find the story as engrossing as I had hoped. I found all of the plotlines and character arcs to be held together by the slimmest of threads. This hurt the overall narrative as it seemed to jump all over the place, we get little bits and 
pieces of this, a little bit of that, but nothing really seems to fit. I do not need to have the story explained to me, but I would like a stronger cohesion in the story itself so that when hints are dropped it does not feel like they are pieces to the same puzzle. I look at the pieces, then at the cover image and it looks like a few puzzles have been mixed together. It isn't until the end when it is decided that all of those pieces will be forced into place, creating a final image that works, but is more Dali than Kinkade.
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Article comments
1 - gentletouchee
Brian di Palma is a great director.haven't seen this yet but it looks good.
2 - KT
Don't know if anybody's in the L.A. area November 2nd, but the cinematographer of this film, Oscar-winner Vilmos Zsigmond will be speaking about the process of making the movie at HD EXPO.
3 - Jenn
The Black Dahlia is the most disappointing and problematic movie I've seen in ages.
-It's very boring
-It makes absolutely no sense- don't hold your breath for everything to come together at the end.
-The writing is laughable
-The actors are NOT engaging, making the sappy emotional stuff hard to endure
Don't watch this movie! It doesn't matter how hyped it is. It's not flashy or fun, and you'll probably end up regretting it. What a WASTE of time. Thanks for reading.
4 - Kyle
Boring, long-winded, confusing story. Good thing the actors are hot or I would have walked out. I don't know if it was the author, the screen writer, the director, or all three, but someone really messed up because this film did not come together.