Noir Heaven?

Adapted from a James Ellroy novel, De Palma's The Black Dahlia takes us back to Hollywood's golden age when film noir was king of the screen. Set against the backdrop of a grisly real life murder -that still remains unsolved- we follow the fictional tale of LA cops Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), and girl in the middle Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson).

It takes a while to engage with the movie, but once the opening thirty minutes is over we have a good handle on the principle characters and their relationship. Cops Bleichert and Blanchard are paired up working warrants, and it's not long before they come across the horribly mutilated corpse of young aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, nicknamed the black dahlia. Very quickly Blanchard looses himself in the case, obsessed with cracking it.

For all the intrigue and real life mystery surrounding the case, the story chooses to largely ignore this and instead spin us a well trodden yarn of corruption in 1940's LA. The murder is really little more than a backdrop for most of the movie's runtime, and it's the three way relationship of the principle characters that takes centre stage.

Performances are very good all round; the cops are interesting characters, and for the most part narration by Hartnett works well. Scarlett has the perfect look for film noir, but for some inexplicable reason spends all her time in a beige cardigan.

Perhaps the movie's greatest achievement is reminding us how rich a genre film noir is; readily bringing to mind a score of movies from Hollywood's golden age. Visually it captures the mood of the period well, and is further aided by plenty of nods to conventions of the genre. Dialogue has enough classic lines to get you grinning, but lacks consistency; some clunky utterances conspire to spoil your enjoyment.

It is well into the movie before investigation of the murder resumes in earnest. By this point there is scant runtime left, and we are thrown a convoluted and confusing mess of exposition, attempting to neatly tie the separate threads together. Sadly a lot of it comes off as unbelievable and -in the case of the murder- almost laughable.

Not the Oscar contender everyone was expecting. The Black Dahlia is mixed, confusing, and ultimately underwhelming story telling.