Frank Miller vindicated!

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2005)

Finally, Miller's work makes it to the Silver Screen without suffering the slings and arrows of Hollywood! The film was excellent in terms of both style and execution; you could tell Rodriguez was truly committed to bringing the source material to life. The casting was for the most part dead on, and the film stayed "true to the book" 99% of the time (the absent 1% being more or less forgivable in terms of translating the material from script to screen). My sole complaints are that the film's pace was a little too fast in certain scenes, not giving it the 'breathing room' it needed in some places; and that the nudity present in the graphic novels was toned down slightly in exchange for amping up the violence level. This is most notable at the plot-point strip club where NOBODY'S STRIPPING, which kind of detracts from the graphic, hard-edged sheen the source material delivered. In the end, though, those are two very minor quibbles over what is an overall triumph of story, style, and obvious devotion to the source material. I can't wait for more from Miller and Rodriguez.