Review of The Black Dahlia (2006) by Alainm. — 17 Sep 2006

How poor this movie is is obvious from all the reviews but I think it is unfair that the actors seem to be copping most of the blame (certainly no-one comes close to giving a career defining performance here) but none of the actors performances are anywhere near as terrible as that of de Palma himself.

I can only hope that this may finally convince people that de Palma is one of the most over-rated, inane, and clumsy directors of the past few decades. Here's a thunderbolt - none of his films are that good! Where they are its down to exceptional performances of the actors.

Here, unfortunately, no-one saves de Palma's skin. After LA Confidential this was a fantasic opportunity to continue setting all Ellroy's LA Quartet to film. It's a wasted one now. One final criticism I haven't seen elsewhere - this film has some of the worst and most inappropriate incidental music I have ever heard.

Often it is completely at odds with the tempo on screen and in one scene is so loud it almost drowns out the dialogue. This is an unprofessional, haphazard, shambles of a film.