Watch only if you can handle the violence!

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2005)

This movie was extremely perverse in all the ways that you can ask for from Robert Rodriguez. I'm not familiar with Frank Miller's written work, but it is quite clear that he successfully presented his material on the big screen. I loved the way they began with the fluff of Hartnett's acting, only to turn a 180 and plunge heavily into the painful, grungy world of Sin City. The dialogue was minimally complex, which worked because it allowed you to focus on each licentious, lustful locale. It was a male movie-goer's paradise--babes, violence, and gore. Their appeal notwithstanding, the protagonist of every sub-plot risked his life for the women around him, no matter what the cause. And each bad guy received his comeupance.
Sin City used splashes of color on the black and white shots in wonderfully passionate and almost enthralling ways. The lighting was fabulous. Although shot with a late-1940's aesthetic, modern guns and the occasional modern car made their way onto the screen. The merger of these and other anachronistic elements gave the movie a setting that was without period. Even the characters were timelessly played (albeit aptly) with sass and charisma (depending on gender). This gave them a realistic depth that nicely balanced their sometimes super-human behavior.
For a laundry list of textural elements, I personally thought this movie was amazing.