How the mighty have fallen. The once great Brian de Palma, known for directing memorable films such as ""Mission: Impossible,"" ""The Untouchables"" and ""Scarface,"" defiles the screen with his terrible adaptation of James Ellroy's novel ""The Black Dahlia.""
""The Black Dahlia"" is the story of the unsolved mystery of Elizabeth Short, a young woman who was discovered mutilated in southern Los Angeles in 1947. The story follows two Los Angeles cops, Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) as they search for Short's murderer. Along the way, Bleichert uncovers corruption in the LAPD and the degenerate behavior of California's elite.
""The Black Dahlia"" is an excellent example of what goes wrong turning a complex novel into a movie. ""Dahlia"" is an onion full of layers that should have been peeled progressively throughout the movie. Instead, the onion is chopped in half in the last five minutes of the movie, leaving the audience to examine the innards all at once.
De Palma attempted to assemble a brilliant ensemble cast, but this is impossible to achieve with Josh Hartnett as the lead. Hartnett should not be allowed to act in anything short of a shoddy television movie about a high school football team, where he would actually have a chance to look good. His lack of emotional conviction and inability to read lines outside of monotone absolutely ruins the film and distracts the audience.
A weak script and cast bring down the usually great Scarlett Johansson, who plays the role of Blanchard's girlfriend. Her attempts to act in the film-noir style de Palma struggles to emulate do not come off as sultry and powerful, but over the top.
Hilary Swank's performance as femme fatal Madeleine Linscott is the film's only saving grace. At times, Swank's accent is distracting. However, her presentation as an elusive and mysterious socialite stands out in a potpourri of stench and dreadfulness from the rest of the cast.
Film-noir is known for its smoky mysteriousness—where it is the protagonist against the world in a battle to search for the truth. De Palma's attempt to emulate this film style is only successful in the film's cinematography, which is brilliantly soft and smoky. But the success of a film-noir depends not on a seductive camera style but those of the protagonist, who must emulate the alienated, heroic sense perfectly. Here, Hartnett also fails, looking even bland and confused than he did in ""Pearl Harbor.""
Anyone who has read Ellroy's novel knows that this film was a difficult undertaking. De Palma's inability to portray Ellroy's insightfulness and creativity merely makes the point that films of this caliber should be left for more talented directors.
