. . .belong to the City.

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2005)

At first sight, you belong to the "City." You belong to the night. In light of the plots, two out of three are alright. "Who cares? They're all basically bad anyway," said film buff/East Carolina University professor in regard to the characters derived from Frank Miller's "Sin City: The Big Fat Kill" (1994). Introducing new audiences to his graphic novel "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" (1993) solves that problem. Each silver-screen account takes place roughly around the same period. Dwight (Clive Owen) hints at the outcome of Marv's (Mickey Rourke) tale in the comic. The Hollywood triumvirate or directorial firm of Miller, Rodriguez, & Tarantino omitted the section on-screenso much for a nice bit of foreshadowing. The inevitable still shocks people when it happens. The parts that some felt dragged in the series now lie on the cutting room floor, so the film flows like an "action-packed thrill ride." "Sin City" went unrated for weeks before its release due to an abundance of graphic violencecertain to appear unadulterated on DVD. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) almost issued an NC-17 instead of R rating. Miller's initial illustrational style points out the symbolism scattered throughout the all-but-black-and-white flick. It does not take an optometrist to determine the significance of three gateways to the soul: The eyes of Cardinal (Rutger Hauer) Roark gleam green with envy. The green greed in Marley Shelton's pair grab Josh Hartnett (see Sin City: The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories, 1994). A case of the blues strikes one of the "Gilmore Girls" (Alexis Bledel) gone wild. "What's the deal with that Yellow Bastard?" Master Sgt. Weinfurtner asked. "His backed up urine must be coming out his pores." Detective John (Bruce Willis) Hartigan would agree based on the "stink" of his nemesis for this film noir. Furthermore, Kevin (Elijah Wood) represents Miller's testament to Charlie Brown during his adolescent yearsthe result of a hard-knock life. If moviegoers walk down the right back alley to "Sin City," they will find the harsh realities of Frank Miller's directing debut.