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The Black Dahlia
The Black Dahlia Image
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Metascore
49 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics What's this?

User Score
3.0 out of 10

Generally unfavorable- based on 122 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson
  • Summary: The Black Dahlia weaves a fictionalized tale of obsession, love, corruption, greed and depravity around the brutal murder of a fledgling Hollywood starlet that shocked and fascinated the nation in 1947 and remains unsolved today. (Universal Pictures)
  • Director: Brian De Palma
  • Genre(s): Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Crime
  • Rating: R
  • Runtime: 121 min
  • More Details and Credits »

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 35
  3. Negative: 5 out of 35
  1. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    91
    Hartnett and co-star Scarlett Johansson--that most fatale of current filmic femmes--are naturals for this kind of noir-hued material, but the pairing of Ellroy and De Palma proves a marriage made in hardboiled heaven.
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: Adam Smith
    60
    Gorgeously realised, gripping and doused in De Palma's familiar technical wizardry, this is only let down by the director's equally familiar uninterest in the humanity of his characters.
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    38
    Doesn't provoke bittersweet inquiries regarding one poor actress' grisly fate. Nor does it stir up much provocation on the matter of why, as a popular audience, we're still taken with this lurid symbol of sex and dread and desire. Rather, the movie raises a much simpler question: Huh?

See all 35 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 75
  3. Negative: 58 out of 75
  1. ES
    10
    A brave bit of storytelling, brazenly un-PC, my favorite of the recent rash of pulp movies. Also lovely to see real cinematic ability on display here -- even Scorsese's latest movie is obviously a product of the MTV generation, while this movie could have been made during the Golden Age of cinema. Standouts are Aaron Eckhart, whose '40s throwback performance layered with '90s indie naturalism stole the show, and William Finley's small but very important role was a pleasant surprise. It was a real pleasure to see the Phantom of the Paradise himself onscreen again. I'll agree with most that Hartnett and Johansson very nearly ruined this film's chances, but the movie is too solid overall to be discounted. See it in a theater for the full effect!… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. redlight
    5
    the following is from empire's review of the film, which i agree with: "De Palma is interested not a jot in the feelings of his characters, and thus the denouement which, in a way appropriate for noir, verges on the loopy, is frigid and unsatisfying. It’s par for the course for the director, but here it’s a flaw thrown into sharp relief by the reality of the subject matter. Perhaps we should try to disentangle poor Elizabeth Short from the fiction and recall that that at the centre of this maelstrom of technical artistry, armchair speculation and noirish atmos, there’s the ruined body of a young woman who, 59 years ago, met someone, or something, that surely no-one deserves to."… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. DaveJ.
    3
    The plot was a good idea but the production left the plot go astray. It got boring after a while and the only reason I finished it was to see who the killer was. Could have been done a great deal better than it was.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 75 User Reviews

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