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Here stands a film that I've been avidly anticipating for a number of months now. As a fan of Brian De Palma's better works (Scarface, The Untouchables, hell, even Mission Impossible), I really hoped he could recapture the magic he failed to in efforts such as Snake Eyes. The trailer for The Black Dahlia had me excited from the get-go, and represented the film as a hard-boiled detective thriller. I loved LA Confidential, and seeing as The Black Dahlia was from the helm of the same writer, I was expecting another great book adaptation.
Whilst what I got was in many ways a satisfactory product, it was in many ways completely different to what I expected. Bear in mind that this is the opinion of someone who hasn't read the novel of The Black Dahlia.
The place the story in a nutshell, it revolves (although I'll use that term loosely, as you'll see) around the murder of an ingenue by the name of Elizabeth Short. Despite the layers of window dressing, the enigma of the film rests in discovering who killed her, why they did, and when.
The Bad
Some lines, particularly those delivered by Hartnett near the beginning of the film sounded almost incomprehensible due to him putting on a craggly, husky-ish voice. It seemed as though he was trying to do film-noir a little too hard. Luckily this seemed to disappear quite quickly.
It was 20 minutes into the film and there was still not even a hint of the actual Black Dahlia murder. It's finally introduced at about 25 minutes in, and even then, well over half of the film doesn't even mention the murder - it's more based around the characters, and I saw this as probably the weakest point of the film. The trailer made it seem almost entirely based on Elizabeth Short's murder, but instead we just get a neat tie-up at the end, which seemed pretty tacked on. Had the trailer alluded more to the obession the characters have over the case, then this aspect wouldn't have been such a disappointment.
The wipes to the next scene were a little annoying. Granted, he was trying to capture the late 1940s feel, which I think he did well, but this just irked me a bit.
The actual reveal of the killer was pretty poorly done. It ends up seeming non-sensical, and there were plenty of better candidates for who the killer could've been.
There's one "comedic" scene about half-way through the film, which pretty much took me out of the film. It seemed unnecessary and stupid, and involves Hilary Swank's insane mother ranting on. It's the set up for something near the end of the film, but I also found what it sets up to be silly, so both of those plot elements could've done with being nixed. This scene recieved a big laugh from the rather small crowd (only about 1/3 of the cinema was full), and I just hope that, like me, they were laughing at the absurdity of it.
The last half hour is also full of a number of twists, which I felt was rather unnecessary. I can let them off for the twist involving the reveal of the killer, but there were a number of other twists that just didn't seem to fit well, and as such seemed pretty tacked on.
The Good
The performances were good on the whole. Hartnett does well, aside from the aforementioned trying a little too hard. Johansson was a tad disappointing, and I thought she seemed pretty stagey. Eckhart puts on the best performance in the film, and at first it might seem as though he's overacting, but when the reasons behind his madness are explained, it's a lot more comforting. Hilary Swank plays the femme fatale well, and even moreso were it not for her irritating accent. I don't know what they were trying for, but the end result just sounded silly, and like Scarlett, pretty stagey. Mia Kirshner played her small role as The Black Dahlia with a child-like innocence that I felt was virtually perfect for the character.
There's some lovely shots, here. There's a great one of Eckhart sort of grinning behind his wine glass, but De Palma doesn't let the shot hold and quickly wipes to the next scene.
The best scene is without a doubt the big set-piece of the film, involving a staircase and multiple assailants. There's this superb shot of an assailant walking out of the darkness, and he quickly flicks his flick-knife and chaos ensues. I only wish the scene was a little longer, as it probably totalled about two minutes in all. This was the 10/10 moment of the film, though.
I have absolutely no idea what critics were on about when they said the sex scene with Scarlett Johansson was too distracting and gratuitous. You see virtually nothing, and it fades to black after 30 seconds anyway. The only thing I could see distracting about Scarlett throughout the whole film is her incredibly tight shirt.
Despite the faults, there were some surprise scenes of interest, such as the cops interviewing Elizabeth Short's father, and how he seems fairly apathetic about his daughter's death, or perhaps he's just angry. It's never explored in more detail, which I would have preferred to see rather than some of the crazier stuff they threw at us in the final half hour.
The surviving main character has to make a choice right near the end of the film, and I thought "Oh, he'll let the legal system deal with that person", but to my enjoyment, he actually didn't. Whilst it may have seemed a tad sudden, I think it helped take away from the silliness of the reveal just moments before, so it didn't seem as bad.
There's some great lines that clicked succinctly in a film-noir sense. For instance, instead of saying "crystal clear" as one would expect, Hartnett says "technicolour".
There's a few things that reminded me of L.A. Confidential (such as mentioning San Quentin, and the use of the word "beef" in reference to a crime), and whilst this film is no L.A. Confidential, it's easily noticable that these are both works of James Ellroy.
Summary: 8/10. There's too much time spent on seemingly inane scenes, and nowhere near enough spent on the investigation of the Black Dahlia murder. Oh, and the reveal was rubbish. I would rather the crime had been left unsolved, and then the remaining living characters kill themselves over their obsession with the case or something. It scrapes an 8, but had these things been changed, I think it could've recieved a 9 or 10 from me. Does the film bring him back to the level of Scarface, Carrie and The Untouchables? No, but it's a damn sight better than some of his other work, and just looking at the visual style, it's clearly a De Palma film. In some respects I guess it's an exercise in style over substance.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer.
Whilst what I got was in many ways a satisfactory product, it was in many ways completely different to what I expected. Bear in mind that this is the opinion of someone who hasn't read the novel of The Black Dahlia.
The place the story in a nutshell, it revolves (although I'll use that term loosely, as you'll see) around the murder of an ingenue by the name of Elizabeth Short. Despite the layers of window dressing, the enigma of the film rests in discovering who killed her, why they did, and when.
The Bad
Some lines, particularly those delivered by Hartnett near the beginning of the film sounded almost incomprehensible due to him putting on a craggly, husky-ish voice. It seemed as though he was trying to do film-noir a little too hard. Luckily this seemed to disappear quite quickly.
It was 20 minutes into the film and there was still not even a hint of the actual Black Dahlia murder. It's finally introduced at about 25 minutes in, and even then, well over half of the film doesn't even mention the murder - it's more based around the characters, and I saw this as probably the weakest point of the film. The trailer made it seem almost entirely based on Elizabeth Short's murder, but instead we just get a neat tie-up at the end, which seemed pretty tacked on. Had the trailer alluded more to the obession the characters have over the case, then this aspect wouldn't have been such a disappointment.
The wipes to the next scene were a little annoying. Granted, he was trying to capture the late 1940s feel, which I think he did well, but this just irked me a bit.
The actual reveal of the killer was pretty poorly done. It ends up seeming non-sensical, and there were plenty of better candidates for who the killer could've been.
There's one "comedic" scene about half-way through the film, which pretty much took me out of the film. It seemed unnecessary and stupid, and involves Hilary Swank's insane mother ranting on. It's the set up for something near the end of the film, but I also found what it sets up to be silly, so both of those plot elements could've done with being nixed. This scene recieved a big laugh from the rather small crowd (only about 1/3 of the cinema was full), and I just hope that, like me, they were laughing at the absurdity of it.
The last half hour is also full of a number of twists, which I felt was rather unnecessary. I can let them off for the twist involving the reveal of the killer, but there were a number of other twists that just didn't seem to fit well, and as such seemed pretty tacked on.
The Good
The performances were good on the whole. Hartnett does well, aside from the aforementioned trying a little too hard. Johansson was a tad disappointing, and I thought she seemed pretty stagey. Eckhart puts on the best performance in the film, and at first it might seem as though he's overacting, but when the reasons behind his madness are explained, it's a lot more comforting. Hilary Swank plays the femme fatale well, and even moreso were it not for her irritating accent. I don't know what they were trying for, but the end result just sounded silly, and like Scarlett, pretty stagey. Mia Kirshner played her small role as The Black Dahlia with a child-like innocence that I felt was virtually perfect for the character.
There's some lovely shots, here. There's a great one of Eckhart sort of grinning behind his wine glass, but De Palma doesn't let the shot hold and quickly wipes to the next scene.
The best scene is without a doubt the big set-piece of the film, involving a staircase and multiple assailants. There's this superb shot of an assailant walking out of the darkness, and he quickly flicks his flick-knife and chaos ensues. I only wish the scene was a little longer, as it probably totalled about two minutes in all. This was the 10/10 moment of the film, though.
I have absolutely no idea what critics were on about when they said the sex scene with Scarlett Johansson was too distracting and gratuitous. You see virtually nothing, and it fades to black after 30 seconds anyway. The only thing I could see distracting about Scarlett throughout the whole film is her incredibly tight shirt.
Despite the faults, there were some surprise scenes of interest, such as the cops interviewing Elizabeth Short's father, and how he seems fairly apathetic about his daughter's death, or perhaps he's just angry. It's never explored in more detail, which I would have preferred to see rather than some of the crazier stuff they threw at us in the final half hour.
The surviving main character has to make a choice right near the end of the film, and I thought "Oh, he'll let the legal system deal with that person", but to my enjoyment, he actually didn't. Whilst it may have seemed a tad sudden, I think it helped take away from the silliness of the reveal just moments before, so it didn't seem as bad.
There's some great lines that clicked succinctly in a film-noir sense. For instance, instead of saying "crystal clear" as one would expect, Hartnett says "technicolour".
There's a few things that reminded me of L.A. Confidential (such as mentioning San Quentin, and the use of the word "beef" in reference to a crime), and whilst this film is no L.A. Confidential, it's easily noticable that these are both works of James Ellroy.
Summary: 8/10. There's too much time spent on seemingly inane scenes, and nowhere near enough spent on the investigation of the Black Dahlia murder. Oh, and the reveal was rubbish. I would rather the crime had been left unsolved, and then the remaining living characters kill themselves over their obsession with the case or something. It scrapes an 8, but had these things been changed, I think it could've recieved a 9 or 10 from me. Does the film bring him back to the level of Scarface, Carrie and The Untouchables? No, but it's a damn sight better than some of his other work, and just looking at the visual style, it's clearly a De Palma film. In some respects I guess it's an exercise in style over substance.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer.
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Here stands a film that I've been avidly anticipating for a number of months now. As a fan of Brian De Palma's better works (Scarface, The Untouchables, hell, even Mission Impossible), I really hoped he could recapture the magic he failed to in efforts such as Snake Eyes. The trailer for The Black Dahlia had me excited from the get-go, and represented the film as a hard-boiled detective thriller. I loved LA Confidential, and seeing as The Black Dahlia was from the helm of the same writer, I was expecting another great book adaptation.
Whilst what I got was in many ways a satisfactory product, it was in many ways completely different to what I expected. Bear in mind that this is the opinion of someone who hasn't read the novel of The Black Dahlia.
The place the story in a nutshell, it revolves (although I'll use that term loosely, as you'll see) around the murder of an ingenue by the name of Elizabeth Short. Despite the layers of window dressing, the enigma of the film rests in discovering who killed her, why they did, and when.
The Bad
Some lines, particularly those delivered by Hartnett near the beginning of the film sounded almost incomprehensible due to him putting on a craggly, husky-ish voice. It seemed as though he was trying to do film-noir a little too hard. Luckily this seemed to disappear quite quickly.
It was 20 minutes into the film and there was still not even a hint of the actual Black Dahlia murder. It's finally introduced at about 25 minutes in, and even then, well over half of the film doesn't even mention the murder - it's more based around the characters, and I saw this as probably the weakest point of the film. The trailer made it seem almost entirely based on Elizabeth Short's murder, but instead we just get a neat tie-up at the end, which seemed pretty tacked on. Had the trailer alluded more to the obession the characters have over the case, then this aspect wouldn't have been such a disappointment.
The wipes to the next scene were a little annoying. Granted, he was trying to capture the late 1940s feel, which I think he did well, but this just irked me a bit.
The actual reveal of the killer was pretty poorly done. It ends up seeming non-sensical, and there were plenty of better candidates for who the killer could've been.
There's one "comedic" scene about half-way through the film, which pretty much took me out of the film. It seemed unnecessary and stupid, and involves Hilary Swank's insane mother ranting on. It's the set up for something near the end of the film, but I also found what it sets up to be silly, so both of those plot elements could've done with being nixed. This scene recieved a big laugh from the rather small crowd (only about 1/3 of the cinema was full), and I just hope that, like me, they were laughing at the absurdity of it.
The last half hour is also full of a number of twists, which I felt was rather unnecessary. I can let them off for the twist involving the reveal of the killer, but there were a number of other twists that just didn't seem to fit well, and as such seemed pretty tacked on.
The Good
The performances were good on the whole. Hartnett does well, aside from the aforementioned trying a little too hard. Johansson was a tad disappointing, and I thought she seemed pretty stagey. Eckhart puts on the best performance in the film, and at first it might seem as though he's overacting, but when the reasons behind his madness are explained, it's a lot more comforting. Hilary Swank plays the femme fatale well, and even moreso were it not for her irritating accent. I don't know what they were trying for, but the end result just sounded silly, and like Scarlett, pretty stagey. Mia Kirshner played her small role as The Black Dahlia with a child-like innocence that I felt was virtually perfect for the character.
There's some lovely shots, here. There's a great one of Eckhart sort of grinning behind his wine glass, but De Palma doesn't let the shot hold and quickly wipes to the next scene.
The best scene is without a doubt the big set-piece of the film, involving a staircase and multiple assailants. There's this superb shot of an assailant walking out of the darkness, and he quickly flicks his flick-knife and chaos ensues. I only wish the scene was a little longer, as it probably totalled about two minutes in all. This was the 10/10 moment of the film, though.
I have absolutely no idea what critics were on about when they said the sex scene with Scarlett Johansson was too distracting and gratuitous. You see virtually nothing, and it fades to black after 30 seconds anyway. The only thing I could see distracting about Scarlett throughout the whole film is her incredibly tight shirt.
Despite the faults, there were some surprise scenes of interest, such as the cops interviewing Elizabeth Short's father, and how he seems fairly apathetic about his daughter's death, or perhaps he's just angry. It's never explored in more detail, which I would have preferred to see rather than some of the crazier stuff they threw at us in the final half hour.
The surviving main character has to make a choice right near the end of the film, and I thought "Oh, he'll let the legal system deal with that person", but to my enjoyment, he actually didn't. Whilst it may have seemed a tad sudden, I think it helped take away from the silliness of the reveal just moments before, so it didn't seem as bad.
There's some great lines that clicked succinctly in a film-noir sense. For instance, instead of saying "crystal clear" as one would expect, Hartnett says "technicolour".
There's a few things that reminded me of L.A. Confidential (such as mentioning San Quentin, and the use of the word "beef" in reference to a crime), and whilst this film is no L.A. Confidential, it's easily noticable that these are both works of James Ellroy.
Summary: 8/10. There's too much time spent on seemingly inane scenes, and nowhere near enough spent on the investigation of the Black Dahlia murder. Oh, and the reveal was rubbish. I would rather the crime had been left unsolved, and then the remaining living characters kill themselves over their obsession with the case or something. It scrapes an 8, but had these things been changed, I think it could've recieved a 9 or 10 from me. Does the film bring him back to the level of Scarface, Carrie and The Untouchables? No, but it's a damn sight better than some of his other work, and just looking at the visual style, it's clearly a De Palma film. In some respects I guess it's an exercise in style over substance.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer.
Whilst what I got was in many ways a satisfactory product, it was in many ways completely different to what I expected. Bear in mind that this is the opinion of someone who hasn't read the novel of The Black Dahlia.
The place the story in a nutshell, it revolves (although I'll use that term loosely, as you'll see) around the murder of an ingenue by the name of Elizabeth Short. Despite the layers of window dressing, the enigma of the film rests in discovering who killed her, why they did, and when.
The Bad
Some lines, particularly those delivered by Hartnett near the beginning of the film sounded almost incomprehensible due to him putting on a craggly, husky-ish voice. It seemed as though he was trying to do film-noir a little too hard. Luckily this seemed to disappear quite quickly.
It was 20 minutes into the film and there was still not even a hint of the actual Black Dahlia murder. It's finally introduced at about 25 minutes in, and even then, well over half of the film doesn't even mention the murder - it's more based around the characters, and I saw this as probably the weakest point of the film. The trailer made it seem almost entirely based on Elizabeth Short's murder, but instead we just get a neat tie-up at the end, which seemed pretty tacked on. Had the trailer alluded more to the obession the characters have over the case, then this aspect wouldn't have been such a disappointment.
The wipes to the next scene were a little annoying. Granted, he was trying to capture the late 1940s feel, which I think he did well, but this just irked me a bit.
The actual reveal of the killer was pretty poorly done. It ends up seeming non-sensical, and there were plenty of better candidates for who the killer could've been.
There's one "comedic" scene about half-way through the film, which pretty much took me out of the film. It seemed unnecessary and stupid, and involves Hilary Swank's insane mother ranting on. It's the set up for something near the end of the film, but I also found what it sets up to be silly, so both of those plot elements could've done with being nixed. This scene recieved a big laugh from the rather small crowd (only about 1/3 of the cinema was full), and I just hope that, like me, they were laughing at the absurdity of it.
The last half hour is also full of a number of twists, which I felt was rather unnecessary. I can let them off for the twist involving the reveal of the killer, but there were a number of other twists that just didn't seem to fit well, and as such seemed pretty tacked on.
The Good
The performances were good on the whole. Hartnett does well, aside from the aforementioned trying a little too hard. Johansson was a tad disappointing, and I thought she seemed pretty stagey. Eckhart puts on the best performance in the film, and at first it might seem as though he's overacting, but when the reasons behind his madness are explained, it's a lot more comforting. Hilary Swank plays the femme fatale well, and even moreso were it not for her irritating accent. I don't know what they were trying for, but the end result just sounded silly, and like Scarlett, pretty stagey. Mia Kirshner played her small role as The Black Dahlia with a child-like innocence that I felt was virtually perfect for the character.
There's some lovely shots, here. There's a great one of Eckhart sort of grinning behind his wine glass, but De Palma doesn't let the shot hold and quickly wipes to the next scene.
The best scene is without a doubt the big set-piece of the film, involving a staircase and multiple assailants. There's this superb shot of an assailant walking out of the darkness, and he quickly flicks his flick-knife and chaos ensues. I only wish the scene was a little longer, as it probably totalled about two minutes in all. This was the 10/10 moment of the film, though.
I have absolutely no idea what critics were on about when they said the sex scene with Scarlett Johansson was too distracting and gratuitous. You see virtually nothing, and it fades to black after 30 seconds anyway. The only thing I could see distracting about Scarlett throughout the whole film is her incredibly tight shirt.
Despite the faults, there were some surprise scenes of interest, such as the cops interviewing Elizabeth Short's father, and how he seems fairly apathetic about his daughter's death, or perhaps he's just angry. It's never explored in more detail, which I would have preferred to see rather than some of the crazier stuff they threw at us in the final half hour.
The surviving main character has to make a choice right near the end of the film, and I thought "Oh, he'll let the legal system deal with that person", but to my enjoyment, he actually didn't. Whilst it may have seemed a tad sudden, I think it helped take away from the silliness of the reveal just moments before, so it didn't seem as bad.
There's some great lines that clicked succinctly in a film-noir sense. For instance, instead of saying "crystal clear" as one would expect, Hartnett says "technicolour".
There's a few things that reminded me of L.A. Confidential (such as mentioning San Quentin, and the use of the word "beef" in reference to a crime), and whilst this film is no L.A. Confidential, it's easily noticable that these are both works of James Ellroy.
Summary: 8/10. There's too much time spent on seemingly inane scenes, and nowhere near enough spent on the investigation of the Black Dahlia murder. Oh, and the reveal was rubbish. I would rather the crime had been left unsolved, and then the remaining living characters kill themselves over their obsession with the case or something. It scrapes an 8, but had these things been changed, I think it could've recieved a 9 or 10 from me. Does the film bring him back to the level of Scarface, Carrie and The Untouchables? No, but it's a damn sight better than some of his other work, and just looking at the visual style, it's clearly a De Palma film. In some respects I guess it's an exercise in style over substance.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer.