Oh dear, this film is SO bad. It looks like director Brian De Palma thinks that "Film Noir" means "plotless gorefest". Humphrey Bogart and the other good ol' stars of film noir should be spinning in their graves. This film has only one good feature: Dante Ferretti's gorgeous sets. Most of the rest is rubbish. The performances of the lead cast are not really bad, but have their problems. Josh Hartnett, that pretty boy, kind of lacks in charisma, and personally I found Aaron Eckhart miscast - Blanchard is meant to be a man with a dark past, and he wasn't dark enough. Hillary Swank was grossly miscast, far worse than Eckhart. She has nothing, NOTHING of the femme fatale, and while in the film her character is often said to be the Dahlia's lookalike, she is nothing like Mia Kirshner. As for Johansonn, I'm not a great fan, and in this film I really can't see what the fuss is all about. Now consider that this quartet of actors move in a EXTREMELY convoluted plot, very hard to follow, and sometimes, especially the women, utter very campy, laughable lines. Add a massive dose of violence, with blood everywhere, and some fight scenes in slow motion à la Walker Texas Ranger. This is the formula of The Black Dahlia. The result? a serious contender to this year Razzie Award, and a major disappointment for moviegoers. If you want my suggestion don't waste your time and money on it.
Review of The Black Dahlia
