The Black Dahlia - Palm Beach Post movie review

'The Black Dahlia': Atmospheric darkness trumps lack of heat

By LESLIE GRAY STREETER
Palm Beach Post

Throughout his career, Brian De Palma has proven himself a pro at the essential devices of period film noir — sexily dangerous women (Femme Fatale), stylized, eroticized violence (Dressed to Kill, Body Double) and the dramatic heft of vintage style, of the expertly cocked hat and the crisp, silvery lines of a well-cut suit (The Untouchables).

The director makes good use of that proficiency in The Black Dahlia, based on the James Ellroy novel that fictionalized the investigation of the real-life, 1947 murder of would-be starlet Elizabeth Short.

Universal Pictures

'The Black Dahlia'

The verdict: A twisty deliciously dark noir tale marred by a lack of chemistry in its central love triangle.

Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Mia Kirshner
Run time: 121 minutes
Release date: Sept. 15, 2006
Rating: R for strong violence, some grisly images, sexual content and language.
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While the movie starts slowly and occasionally falls apart under the weight of its plot twists, it ultimately succeeds on the strength of De Palma's skills, Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography and some improbably effective casting, particularly Josh Hartnett as Los Angeles police officer Dwight "Bucky" Bleichart.

Hartnett was never as captivating as he was supposed to be when introduced as the next "It" boy in Pearl Harbor. But he's pushing 30 now, and his thick-browed squint, super hero-square jaw, and gravelly mumble now help him succeed as Bleichart, a failed boxer turned LAPD golden boy. He and his partner, fellow former boxer Sgt. Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), are drawn into the high-profile Short murder case.

The mysterious aspiring actress, played in flashback with suppressed sadness by The L Word's Mia Kirshner, is found eviscerated and facially disfigured in a shallow grave. She's nicknamed "The Black Dahlia" because of her jet-black hair and wardrobe, and the name hints at the darkness that likely led to her death.

De Palma's film has drawn comparisons to the equally beautiful film version of Ellroy's L.A. Confidential, and besides the 1940s L.A. setting, each has at its center a sexually charged triangle between initially antagonistic partners and the blond bombshell they're both drawn to.

But a triangle is only as strong as its three points, and while Eckhart, as the passionate, obsessed Blanchard, and Hartnett's Bleichart share a deep, almost erotic, connection to each other, neither manages much chemistry with Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson), the appropriately noir-named but weirdly static former moll with whom Blanchard chastely lives.

Johannson's maturity and smoky voice made such an impression as a grasping woman-child both in Lost In Translation and Ghost World, but here she has a really hard time connecting. It's distracting to watch her seem to consciously act — "I will hold the cigarette lighter just like this and then stand seductively, just like this."

As the linchpin in the triangle, Johansson never quite convinces you of the flesh-and-blood woman who is supposedly so compelling to the two leads.

For real sensual fireworks, check out Hilary Swank, who brings a twisted sexual confidence to spoiled rich girl Madeleine Linscott, a former paramour and look-alike of Short's who becomes involved with Bucky.

A giddily awkward dinner at the Linscott manse, depicts the most comically horrifying "meeting the parents" moment in recent memory, largely because of Swank and Fiona Shaw as her thoroughly soused mother. It's the wicked high point in an inconsistent, if ultimately satisfying, neo-noir fable.