The Black Dahlia (2006)

Number Rolled: 26

Movie Name/Year: The Black Dahlia (2006)

Genre: Thriller

Length: 121 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Brian De Palma

Writer: Josh Friedman, James Ellroy

Actors: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Mia Kirshner, Mike Starr, Fiona Shaw, Patrick Fischler, James Otis, John Kavanagh, Troy Evans, Anthony Russell, Pepe Serna, Rachel Miner, Rose McGowan, Richard Brake

First thing I have to note is that Netflix probably mostly got it right in their doling out of stars, I just happened to like it better than that. It’s got flaws. For one, the movie is two hours long. Quite frankly, if a director is making my ass sit for that long at one time the movie better put me into a hypnotic trance of awesomeness. Aside from that, it’s slow to begin. For maybe the first twenty minutes of the movie you’re staring at the screen wondering where that little blurb description Netflix gives came from. To be honest, the directors probably could have cut about a half hour of the movie easily enough without losing the story or the build-up.

I’m glad he didn’t.

Though the first twenty minutes mostly focus on stuff that doesn’t lend to the main story, I appreciated it. It gave me a history into the main character and his partner in the police force. Once the story really got rolling, the time no longer mattered. I enjoyed the way they did up the mystery and, quite frankly, I had no fucking clue who done it until they revealed the killer. There was a second murder I pretty much predicted, but that main storyline murderer? Not a clue. The last half hour of the movie saw me gasping quite a bit.

There was one thing I really didn’t like at all. Twice in the movie the shots move a different perspective. That means, suddenly, the camera is moving around like you are a part of the move as the main character. In my opinion, it’s unacceptable to change perspectives in the middle of a book, and it’s unacceptable to change them in the middle of a movie. That was just poor judgment. It was like I went from playing a video game where you can watch the character move around, and then it suddenly just snapped into first person.

Also, I could have done without Rose McGowan. It was a tiny bit part, but I think I might actually hate her as an actress. It’s like she plays the same exact part with the same exact mannerisms in everything she’s a part of. Either she’s BADLY type-cast or she’s got the range of a shoddy paper airplane. Either way, I really find I dislike her.

Overall Opinion – 4.5/5