The Black Dahlia: A movie review by Chris Garton

The Black Dahlia, Starring Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, Hillary Swank, and Mia Kirshner. Directed by Brian De Palma.

Who it’s for: Mystery buffs who don’t mind being confused.
Who it’s not for: Fans of the book will probably get mad.

There are several different ways to adapt a book to a movie, and most of them will leave at least some fans of the book disappointed. Most of the time, you can't fit everything from the book into the movie, so you're going to have to make cuts. The first way to accomplish this is to take a rough outline of the plot, and then rewrite the entire story, keeping the themes in mind. That way you have a movie that, while it may not follow the book exactly, is good in its own right, and follows the spirit of the original story. Some people will not like the changes, but so be it. The second way is to take the parts of the book where the key events happen, smoosh them together, and call it a movie adaptation. This will leave people who haven't read the book confused. People who have read the book will still be disappointed about the parts that were left out, but now also about the movie sucking.
Josh Friedman elected to use the second method when he adapted James Ellroy's darkly fascinating psychological study, The Black Dahlia. The result is a confusing movie whose only redeeming quality is some good atmosphere.
Set in the late 1940s, the plot concerns two LAPD police officers, Bucky Bleichert (Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Eckhart). They are partners in the Warrants division, and best buddies. Lee lives with a woman he met while working on a case, Kay Lake (Johansson), but they have a completely platonic relationship. When Bucky enters the picture, the trio become inseparable—a condition that can’t last. Shortly after New Year’s, the body of a young woman, Elizabeth Short, is found in an empty lot. She is horribly mutilated. Lee, for reasons that are not clear at the moment, becomes completely obsessed with the case. The press takes to calling the girl “The Black Dahlia.” Relating the rest of the plot would not only spoil some of the rather weak surprises, but it would also be tedious, as it gets complicated.
The best parts of this movie by far occur when you aren’t trying to figure out who did what to whom and why these two people are hitting each other. The casting videos found of the Dahlia are the most powerful scenes in the film. Mia Kirshner, whose acting credits include a character arc in “24” and a role in Showtime’s “The L Word,” brings a sophisticated pathos to the role of Elizabeth Short.
These scenes are shot in black and white, and the melancholy evident in her eyes during these scenes makes you forget the shortcomings of the rest of the movie for a moment.
Unfortunately, the film ends weakly, being wrapped up all too nicely, quickly, and dumbly. The acting wasn't bad, but the script moved from one plot point to the next so quickly (and without nearly enough explanation) that we never got a chance to really see them playing characters. They were just playing caricatures. Too bad really. I thought it had great potential. I give it two out of five stars.

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