Movie Review: Sin City

I had to see this movie twice before I could even attempt to put fingers to keyboard to birth my thoughts. Even now I am having a hard time deciding where to begin. This is such a wonderfully gritty trio of tales that take place under the same sky. It is unlike anything that you have seen, or are likely to see for some time.



I am not terribly familiar with the Sin City graphic novels. There was a time in the early-mid 1990's where I was an avid comic collector, many times I would pick one up and thumb through it, but never bought. They had an intriguing look, more inspired by old noir films and gritty crime novels of the 1950's than the more popular superhero pedigree. Years later I heard that Robert Rodriguez would be attempting an adaptation to the big screen, and it seemed like something that was very close to his heart. Then I forgot about it until it came up on the radar nearing its release date. Then the magic started, the trailers appeared and I was officially hooked. Every time I saw a commercial or trailer I got a little more amped. The one thing I was hoping was that I wasn't setting myself up for a fall. Occasionally I get my hopes up so high that nothing could possibly live up to.

Then the day came, I entered the theater found a seat in the middle in the closer half of the theater and settled down. The screen flickers on and the trailers begin, I don't remember any of them, as my senses were blown away by the feature that graced my eye sockets, so any memory of previews was conveniently obliterated. But, you don't want to hear about trailer s anyway, and I'm just dancing around what you all came here to read, what you really want to know is "Was the movie any good?" The simple answer would be an emphatic YES!

To simply run through the story, or stories, would do it a great disservice, it so much more than a plot description. But without it, it is hard to get the words flowing, so bear with me as I give you a brief spin through the world of Sin City. There are three interlocking tales, more loosely connected taking place within the confines of the same universe.

The tale of Hartigan(Bruce Willis) wraps the film, it opens the film with the aging detective on one last job, save a young girl from the son of a senator, who was working on victim number four. The second half of the tale closes the film and follows the results of that initial confrontation. The second tale centers on the none-to-bright thug Marv(Mickey Rourke), who goes on a violent quest to uncover the truth behind the death of the hooker who showed him a moment of kindness. Thirdly there is Dwight(Clive Owen), a man trying to escape a dark past, but knows that what he has coming up will make that impossible as he becomes embroiled in a battle with the mob while trying to help the hookers who run Old Town.

The thing about this movie is that it is about so much more than it's characters. It is just dripping with style and is unlike anything that has graced the screen in a long time. The stories are heavily inspired by the old hard boiled detective stories and films from the 1940's and 1950's. Dark, gritty, populated with archetypal characters. Much of the exposition is internal and delivered through voiceover, which is usually a bad sign for a film, having to explain everything, but here it just sucks you further into it as it works so well. Besides our three anti-heroes, there are a host of other characters, heroes and villains, filling all sorts of different roles. There are strippers, clergy, cannibals, hookers, cops, you want it, it's in here.

If you couldn't tell, I am having a hard time getting this out. I have seen the movie twice, and have been trying to write this for a week, but for some reason I still can't get word to screen. This movie floored me. The black and white with splashes of color highlighting certain details, the almost comic panel like look to many of the shots, the way we get to learn about the characters. The characters do not develop in a normal way, if you expect to have characters like in other films, you will be in for a surprise. They develop atypically, they are played in alternating broad strokes and small details, there is no middleground. There is no middleground with regards to anything in this movie. The over the top violence, the gritty characters, the utter lack of sunlight. There is also the fact that none of the characters are truly likeable, they are all damaged in one way or another.

This movie just grabbed my attention and held it in rapture for the entire two hours it was running. There is something about the black and white photography, the extensive use of CG backgrounds, the characters and there dialogue, great. Rodriguez has created something new, melding use of modern effects, strong character definition, interesting tales. This is the direction that the future of film is heading in. The ability to craft a film using technology and characters.

I don't think that there is any aspect of this movie that I do not like. I can promise you know that this will be on my top 10 list come the end of the year. I am only hoping that by the time the DVD comes around. I also hope that in some small way I was able to convey how great this film is.

Highly Recommended.

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