The Black Dahlia [DVD]

A complex who-dunnit with a good layer of Raymond Chandler hard-boiled dialogue laid on a specific era in America. You need to keep your wits about you to follow the plot which has more twists than a very twisty twisted thing. It isn't LA Confidential (though it comes from the same novel) but it's not bad if you enjoy processing clues.

The problem I faced with "The Black Dahlia" is that, from the outset, it had two things to live up to. Not meeting either of these would result in a review that could never reach overly positive. The two things were a) the source novel, and b) that OTHER James Ellroy novel-film "LA Confidential", which I thought was near flawless. I am afraid to say, that despite my attempt to put these two out my mind as I watched, I felt the need to compare and contrast throughout. And, quite simply, long story short and all, it doesn't meet my high standards.
Oh don't get me wrong, its not by any means rubbish. The spot on performances of Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlet Johanson and Hilary Swank are all very watchable, and indeed the ensemble cast make for a good two hours entertainment. But it simply doesn't grip like the novel, which for me was unputdownable, nor does it have the directorial panache and fizz of LA Confidential. The look of the film doesn't match the film noir style its suited for - it looks TOO much as if it's a film full of actors playing as if they're in the past, as opposed to other film noirs, such as de Palma's previous "Untouchables" which looks as if the actors have been plucked out of their necessary time zones. Whether the fault is down to set design, costume, acting or directing, I don't know, but, importantly, it simply doesn't FEEL genuine enough.
Some of the highlights from the novel make it through - the comment about the dog collecting the paper was a laugh out loud comment in the book, and it is quite rightly kept for the novel.
Also, the denouement seems a bit rushed. When reading the book I remember having ideas about the ending, and who the various bad guys would be. Where as in this, it all seems plumped on the viewer in one fell swoop, giving no sense of satisfaction even if you were wrong in your prediction.

So overall, it's a good entertaining film, but not the classic it should have / could have been.

I rented this film and then before I watched it I saw the review ratings, and absolutely dreaded the thought of wasting two hours on this film. I therefore ignored the film for a day and I have just watched it. By the four stars I have given I can conclude that this film is actually pretty good.

At no moment in the film did I lose interest and the story, directing and characters were engaging and the plot was interesting and at some points genuinely chilling and dramatic. It was a
film that I therefore enjoyed. I think the setting and flair of the film is very much in the mould of LA Confidential and Chinatown.

I could not give the film five stars because the film really is quite difficult to follow at times. My advice to anyone intending to watch the film is this is a really good film but pay attention and try to remember the names of the characters. It is extremely difficult to follow the plot precisely and I think a second viewing would be helpful, but in the end the story fits nicely, and even if you don't quite follow what is going on the directing, music and acting is nevertheless compelling.

I think that a different reason why the film has received bad reviews on this site is because the film is based on a book, and normally a person who has experienced one form of media on the story ends up disliking the new media. I have not read the book and I won't because of the above reasoning, but I think that for anyone who has not read the book I really can't see how if with a little attention this film cannot impress.