The Bottom Line: More 'Black' Days Ahead for Hartnett
By Robert Sims, Special to Hollywood.com
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Josh Hartnett |
“A revelation.”
So James Ellroy declared of Josh Hartnett’s performance in director Brian De Palma's adaptation of the novelist’s The Black Dahlia.
Sorry, but Ellroy—who reportedly made his comments during a Court TV dinner in January—is wrong.
As a police officer investigating the infamous 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, Hartnett is typically monosyllabic, blank-faced and ill at ease. But he’s not the only reason The Black Dahlia, also starring his real-life love Scarlett Johansson, is a tough sell. De Palma's violent and lurid crime thriller looks grand, talks the hardboiled talk, but meanders slowly and coldly toward its eye-rolling conclusion. L.A. Confidential it’s not.
And maybe that’s why Hartnett—hitless since 2002’s 40 Days and 40 Nights—keeps receiving opportunity after opportunity to prove his worth. The critical and commercial flops he makes suffer from bigger problems than his lack of presence and command.
Take Lucky Number Slevin.
This gangster yarn was a muddled Pulp Fiction wannabe burdened with a lousy title. But Hartnett, mistakenly caught in the middle of a brewing mob war between Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman, messed up. He walked through Lucky Number Slevin with a grin on his face that broadcasted too loudly that he knew more than he was letting on. And that spoiled the film’s twist. Hartnett’s Greatest Hits
- Pearl Harbor $198.5 million
- Black Hawk Down $108.6 million
- Sin City $74.1 million
- Halloween H20: 20 Years Later $55 million
- The Faculty $40.2 million
Hartnett can’t be entirely blamed for Wicker Park, which couldn’t decide whether it was a mind-bending thriller or a simple tale of love and yearning. Hartnett only added to the confusion with the dumb look he wore throughout the proceedings.
There was no reason for the inane action-comedy Hollywood Homicide to exist other than to revive Harrison Ford’s flagging career. Guess Ford didn’t see 40 Days and 40 Nights, or he would have known what we already knew: that Hartnett's about as funny as Ford. Hollywood Homicide might have been tolerable had its two leads possessed some comic flair. Hartnett’s Greatest Misses
- Town & Country $6.7 million
- Here on Earth $10.5 million
- Wicker Park $13 million
- O $16 million
- Lucky Number Slevin $22.4 million
Then there’s O. This contemporary Othello never stood a chance after it was delayed for two years—and then timidly released—following the Columbine High School shooting. And it the shame of it was that Hartnett almost nailed his modern-day Iago’s devious and manipulative of ways.
When the focus isn’t on Hartnett, or the film is bigger than its cast, he lucks out. He can hide in the background—as he did in Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor and Sin City—and not do any damage.
Even if The Black Dahlia wilts—audiences might prefer the accessible Hollywoodland—Hartnett's got several more shots to turn things around.
Hartnett's best bet for a much-needed hit lies with 30 Days of Night (Oct. 17, 2007). No, this isn’t not a sequel to 40 Days and 40 Nights, but a Sam Raimi-produced vampire yarn. But this represents something of a step backwards for Hartnett, who leapt from TV to film with The Faculty and Halloween: H20.
In Resurrecting the Champ, Hartnett stars as a reporter who crosses paths with an ex-boxer (Samuel L. Jackson) believed dead. Hartnett certainly needs to come out swinging if he’s to go the distance with Jackson. There’s also talk of Hartnett playing jazz trumpeter Chet Baker in The Prince of Cool. No one thought Jamie Foxx could pull off Ray, so maybe Hartnett also will surprise us. Or maybe not.
The Bottom Line
“People that I respect are always innovative, and so I try to be innovative,” Hartnett told the BBC.co.uk in 2004. But Hartnett's yet to live up to his expectations. And he needs to start to repay Hollywood’s unwavering faith in him. He isn’t revelatory in The Black Dahlia, as James Ellroy claims, but he needs to be in Resurrecting the Champ and The Prince of Cool. If not, Hollywood may finally lose its patience and stop giving Hartnett the opportunities he needs to be innovative.
Photo(s) by Adriana M. Barraza- © 2006- Hollywood Media Corp.- All Rights Reserved