The Black Dahlia (2006) - Review and Analysis by Scott Wood for Critical-Film.com

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The Black Dahlia A film review by Scott Wood For Critical-film.com   For as much as I admire Brian DePalma's bravado filmmaking style, he hasn't really done much to impress me in recent years. It has been ten years since he directed the first “Mission Impossible,” and at the time he did that, I believed him to be uneven as a director, but overall I had faith that a DePalma movie was a good movie, and that he really couldn't do too much wrong.   Then movies like the utterly predictable “Snake Eyes” and the all-around lousy “Mission to Mars” were released. And even though I found myself really looking forward to “Femme Fatale,” I still walked away feeling disappointed, as though DePalma had left something on the editing table. With subject material like “The Black Dahlia,” I didn't know what to expect.   Let me stress the point that I have never been one to criticize a director for being self-indulgent. In fact, I find it to be, without exception, a strongly positive trait of any director's work. Even disappointments like “Snake Eyes” were still relatively interesting to watch, because DePalma has a way of filming his pictures that could make the most uninteresting story seem riveting. I will not use DePalma's tendencies toward caricatures and camera trickery against him like other critics. These things are the reasons that I have liked DePalma in the past, and also the reasons why I still look forward to his work even after years of disappointment.   I have not mentioned his current film thus far, because I am not sure just how it fits into his repertoire, or even how it fits into my brain. I don't if “The Black Dahlia” is any better or any worse than DePalma's previous work, and I suppose I really don't care.   I am recommending “The Black Dahlia” because I miss the bravado. I like the time era and the subject matter, and I also (once in a while) enjoy a plot that careens out of control and comprehensibility to the point where the viewer is just happy that everything worked out okay, regardless of how the characters got there. I don't mind that movie had very little to do with the Black Dahlia mystery itself, because it had a lot of other things going on. It's more the fault of the production companies that advertised the murder as being the plot, than it is DePalma's for not making it so. I suppose I liked “The Black Dahlia,” admittedly because I wanted to like it, and it didn't do anything to betray that want.   I should mention that if it weren't for the effort given to Aaron Eckhart's character, I don't think I give this movie a passing grade. Eckhart, like Tim Roth and Johnny Depp, has the ability to forge so much history and infuse his characters with such depth, that they can overcome plot holes and sparse development. I will go to a movie just because Aaron Eckhart is in it, and I can't say that for many actors.   (Three Stars)   This review was provided in HTML format, as your browser is not capable of displaying flash content. To experience Critical-Film.com the way it was meant to be seen, please download the flash player from <a href="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=BIOW">Macromedia</a>.