Aaron Eckhart: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Lee Blanchard - The Black Dahlia (2006)

Back in the 1970s, Brian De Palma was being touted alongside the likes of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Certainly he and Marty have a passion for classic cinema, as evidenced by the large number of Hitchcock references littered throughout his films. But as time went on, he increasingly became a director known for pursuing style over substance, and no film epitomises this more than The Black Dahlia. The Black Dahlia is a neo-noir crime thriller written by James Ellroy, who also wrote the brilliant L. A. Confidential. Set in Los Angeles in 1947, it follows two detectives (Eckhart and Josh Hartnett) who are investigating the murder and dismemberment of Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner), dubbed 'The Black Dahlia' by the press. Their search leads them on a convoluted path involving a lesbian nightclub, a pornographic film and the enigmatic Madeleine Lescott (Hilary Swank), who looks just like the murdered woman... Despite its credentials, The Black Dahlia is a very shallow film whose pretty visuals swamp both the story and the characters. Eckhart looks lost and confused for most of the film, as if he'd only been shown the script five minutes before the cameras started rolling. This makes his more violent moments later on feel disconnected; they don't convey the desperation of his character, they just come across as awkward and jarring. The whole film sees great talent being squandered, in a sign of just how far De Palma has fallen. And speaking of fallen...