Review of Black Dahlia (2006) by Michael Y — 28 Nov 2010

In short, The Black Dahlia tries to pay respects to classic film noir, but ultimately pays less respect to the real murder victim and the crime that took place.

This film is about two LAPDs who investigate the crime of "The Black Dahlia", a woman who was trying to aspire to be an actress. While the main character Bucky investigates, he becomes involved with the daughter of a rich family who may be connected with the grusome murder. Though this movie may attract you by it's star cast, I regret to inform you that their characters are less than appealing. This story is cluttered with slow plot developements and a mystery that doesn't leave you satisfied when it's solved.

A bad movie by Brian DePalma? Unthinkable, right? well believe it or not that's what this movie is. But DePalma does use his creative filmmaking styles to try to bring out something interesting in this movie. This film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, the score was pretty good, and there costumes and sets do set a retro mood and mystery of the '40s, but it's not enough to be enjoyable. The pacing is presented badly, and there are only cheap editing thrills and shocking gore to make this movie seem thrilling, but it is noticed to be there for only that purpose.

The Black Dahlia is based on a fictional book of the same name, which is the reason why this movie isn't good. Because it's based on a real murder, the subjects in this movie are distasteful and just dull. This movie wasn't even that interesting to watch. If DePalma was going to make a distasteful noir film, he could have at least made it interesting.