The Black Dahlia weaves a fictionalized tale of obsession, love, corruption, greed and depravity around the true story of the brutal murder of a fledgling Hollywood starlet that shocked and fascinated the nation in 1947 and remains unsolved today. Two cops, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), are called to investigate the homicide of actress Betty Ann Short (Mia Kirshner) A.K.A. "The Black Dahlia"-an attack so grisly that images of the killing were kept from the public. While Blanchard's growing preoccupation with the sensational murder threatens his marriage to Kay (Scarlett Johansson), his partner Bleichert finds himself attracted to the enigmatic Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), the daughter of one of the city's most prominent families-who just happens to have an unsavory connection to the murder victim.
I thought that this movie looked awesome from the previews, but as you can tell just from reading the synopsis on the film that it was all over the place. The film really failed to focus on any of the many different subplots and ended up drowning itself. If they could have just looked in to the grisly murder - this probably would have ended up being a really great film. Unfortunately, I watched the time a hell of a lot more than the screen praying for this mess of a movie to come to an end.
I wouldn't recommend anyone paying the rental fee for this one. If you were interested in seeing it - wait for cable.
