Rating of
2/4
"The Black Dahlia" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/25/12
Based on a real case from 1947, The Black Dahlia refers to the murder of a wannabe starlet investigated by detectives Aaaron Eckhart and Josh Hartnett. Brian De Palma does his very best to ape the classic noirs of the 40s, and visually it's great as it beautifully recreates the glamour and atmosphere of the era. The sound track is also excellent and I must say I had high hopes because it actually starts off pretty well with some nice interplay between the two and some interesting plot developments. Irritations soon started to creep in though, as Brian De Palma's clunky insensitive direction and penchant for pointless gimmicks reared their ugly heads; the scene shot in first person for no discernible reason being probably the worst example. Then as the story gets messier and more sensationalist, it starts to look more like one of those tasteless "erotic thrillers" of the 80s. Eventually you realise that the plot is going to be one of those when our hero just happens to trip over the clues that solve the case in the last reel and that you've just wasted 90 minutes of your life. It certainly looks nice, but De Palma tried to make Chintown and ended up with another Mulholland Falls.
