Review: Absurdity Hurts 'The Black Dahlia'

'The Black Dahlia' (R)(out of four)

When it comes to moviemaking -- or storytelling in general -- there's nothing worse than the groan of absurdity.

"The Black Dahlia," sadly, is a whale of a groaner.

It's the kind of groaner where characters show up an unexpected places without explanation, where sudden revelations materialize out of the blue, where mid-scene, one character asks another to help her re-tile the bathroom floor (she cut her foot on a loose tile, you see) only to have him discover a hidden room, a hidden stash and a hidden double meaning for everything that's come prior.

Drama historians refer to it as the deus ex machina -- the sudden hand of God that reaches down to sort out the action -- others call it lazy screenwriting. But given how strongly "Black Dahlia" starts, these arbitrary, heavy-handed, melodramatic shocks represent something far more tragic: The implosion of what could have been a most memorable film.

The timing of its release is notable. Hitting screens only a week after "Hollywoodland" debuted, crafting a private eye caper around the real-life death of "Superman's" George Reeves, "Black Dahlia" crafts a cops-and-conspiracies story around the infamous California murder of starlet Elizabeth Short.

And much like "Hollywoodland," "Dahlia's" story has less to do with its historical roots than with the drama it makes possible, fueling the conflicting loyalties of the cops assigned to the case.

Enter Bucky Bliechert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), the two cops who stand atop "Black Dahlia" much the same way as Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce's cops stood atop "L.A. Confidential," another movie based on a book by hard-boiled author James Ellroy. But that brilliant film was directed with a skittish intensity by Curtis Hanson, orchestrating the betrayals and the conspiracy theories until the tension boiled over into rage and violence.

Famed director Brian De Palma ("The Untouchables," "Scarface") does something far different with "Black Dahlia," and loses grip of the story as a result. Initially, his camera lingers in the glances and suggestions of an unlikely love triangle. Bucky is the young gun, the boxer-turned-cop with ambition on his mind. Lee is the experienced, famed cop who made the big bust back in the day and now is looking for a way to reach the top again.

And early on, as the two prepare to compete against each other in a boxing match being used as a PR stunt to help a referendum gain popularity with the public, it becomes clear that Kay (Scarlett Johansson), Lee's live-in girlfriend, might have feelings for Bucky too.

It is a patient, brooding drama of personalities until the discovery of a brutally mangled and dismembered body changes everything. Lee starts to break down, the horrors of his job consuming his soul. Bucky becomes obsessed with the case, wading into the dark world of sex clubs and stag films and becoming obsessed himself with a courtesan (Hilary Swank, in an award-worthy performance) -- who may be connected to the case.

The cast fights admirably to keep this drama focused and motivated. Hartnett is torn between loyalties, about whether he should follow his heart, his passion or his paycheck. Eckhart convincingly buries his character's secrets in the anguish of a cop who knows too much.

But the further the story drifts away from the drama of this trio, the less control De Palma seems to have over the roller coaster of twists, turns, shocks and surprises to come. When major plot developments suddenly affect different characters, we're left wondering where the story has left to go -- and that's when things are explained away with the absurd revelation or the sudden epiphany.

Or even kitchen tiles.

Surprise is a good thing, but only in doses. Sprinkle in too many surprises and you risk confusion, and by the end of "Black Dahlia," a good many people are not going to have the slightest clue what case Bucky is working any more. Or what the surprises even mean.