| Overall Grade: |
C |
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| Story: |
C |
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| Acting: |
D |
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| Direction: |
C |
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| Visuals: |
B |
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Very much like the novel, but...
by Craig (movies profile)
Oct 2, 2006
66
of
78 people found this review helpful
I'm afraid its a bit of a stinker. This movie has no relation to the actual Black Dahlia case, rather it is a dramatization of James Ellroy's crime novel.
Much like the novel, the action is all over the place and frequently over the top. This renders many scenes of high drama and angst unintentionally funny. Aaron Eckhart is particularly bad in this way, perhaps he was desperately looking for a way out of this mess. The other leads don't fare much better, offering mostly wooden performances. Josh Hartnett struggles mightily to carry the weight but he is not up to the task. Neither is Scarlett Johannson, though Hillary Swank manages to at least make her character marginally interesting.
You will hardly see Brian DePalma's fingerprints on this film, many of his trademark directorial tics are missing or obscured.
I didn't hate the movie but I was pretty disappointed. Maybe the original novel, almost impenetrably dense, didn't lend itself to a proper screenplay.
Glad I went, wouldn't see it again. |
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