To start off I should probably make it apparently clear that I have never read JAMES ELLROY's THE BLACK DAHLIA novel, nor have I ever entertained enough interest in it to even explore the synopsis of the story. So as I entered last nights screening of BRIAN DE PALMA's big screen adaptation of said novel, I was completely with out any expectations for what I was about to watch.
When THE BLACK DAHLIA opens we are introduced to boxer/ police officer DWIGHT "BUCKY" BLEICHERT (JOSH HARTNETT) who is sitting statuesque like in a locker room getting his knuckles taped for what is seemingly his boxing match that is about to take place. Through the eyes of "BUCKY" we are also introduced to his opponent and fellow Los Angeles police officer LELAND BLANCHARD (AARON ECKHART) and his seductive but innocent girlfriend KAY LAKE (SCARLETT JOHANSSON). We then learn that this boxing match has been set up by the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Police Department to help in a political campaign and that the fight is being promoted as a battle between FIRE (SGT. LELAND BLANCHARD) and ICE (OFFICER DWIGHT BLEICHERT). After eight rounds of punching it out, "BUCKY" decides to take the fall he was paid to instead of following his gut instinct not to, and in the process looses a little more than just the boxing match!
After the fight both fighters are heralded as great cops and are paired together and put on assignments in the warrants division of their department. From there we see the duo as they take down endless criminals and eluders of law enforcement; as well we begin to see as a "love triangle" begins to form between BLANCHARD his girlfriend KAY and his partner "BUCKY". After a botched stake out job that lead to the deaths of three people, "BUCKY" begins to notice a crack in his partner’s demeanor. Around the corner from the ill happened stake out, we see the body of a girl has been dumped on the side of the road, as a Mother pushing a stroller passes by, she screams for help.
"BUCKY" and BLANCHARD only a few blocks away, hear the commotion and head to the scene to investigate what had happened. The body of the girl they find is brutally maimed, with its mouth sliced open to the ears on both sides and the body cut in half and disemboweled. The body is soon discovered to be that of ELIZABETH SHORT (MIA KIRSHNER) a young girl who had moved to Hollywood with the hopes to be a celebrity. Though as more information is gathered on ELIZABETH SHORT we find that she was not the innocent child that her photo's made her out to look as even her own father regarded even in postmortem as a "rotten apple". "BUCKY" as well learns of MS. SHORT's lesbian frolics through out Hollywood so he begins to search the clubs frequented by such partitioners to help find some clues.
This leads our pseudo-hero "BUCKY" to a club where he notices a higher class woman who is trying to avoid him at all costs. After finally tracking this mysterious woman down only to find out she is MADELEINE LINSCOTT (HILARY SWANK) daughter of the one of Los Angeles's wealthiest developers EMMET LINSCOTT. As "BUCKY" delves closer to the truth behind the brutal murder of ELIZABETH SHORT, his partner BLANCHARD has become increasingly short tempered and frantic, getting himself kicked out of his house with his girlfriend KAY which has lead KAY into the arms of a reluctant "BUCKY" who would rather deny his own feelings to save his partnership with BLANCHARD.
Trapped in between high society, his partner, his feelings for his partners woman and his lust for MS. LINSCOTT, "BUCKY" must come to grips with just who is in control and who he can actually trust, if anyone?
