One of De Palma's better films, but with two major issues...

And it's possible neither of these are his fault. Josh Hartnett was already cast when De Palma came onboard. Josh Hartnett really struggles to carry a movie this big. It really needed to be more of an ensemble film, which leads to complaint number two: the editing. If this was a three-hour movie (like the version the author was shown and liked), and perhaps a different lead actor, which might have been one of De Palma's major successes. I still feel like this movie is "major De Palma," it's just one of his most frustrating films due to the two issues I named. Maybe it's because his other crime films have great performers like Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in them. None of the four stars of The Black Dahlia come anywhere close to that kind of performance power.

Oh, well. De Palma still saved this movie from what it might have been without his direction. It was destined to be a forgettable movie, but De Palma's touch made it a forgotten masterpiece, of sorts. The same movie with a different male lead and a bit more running time would have made for a classic film. As is, it's just a solid mystery movie that is occasionally haunting and hair-raising.