A must-see for comic-book fans

Rating: 10/10 (19 June 2005)

Sin City - A series of largely unconnected vignettes and directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, Sin City just drips from comic book atmosphere and style. Be it the fact that everything is in various stages of chrome (and anything the directors felt you should pay attention to, such as blood, is overly colored), or that everyone smokes, or that there is more narration than actual dialog. The characters make most of the movie, rather than the plots, which are not that important. There's Harigan (Bruce Willis), the hard-as-adamantium-nails cop with a heart of gold for Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba), as he takes on The Yellow B@stard (Nick Stahl). There's Marv (Mickey Rourke), who is pretty much invulnerable to pain, and kills with a warm smile and fun disposition. These two vigilantes, through their glorious comic book violence, make The Punisher look like a cream puff. There's also Dwight (Clive Owen), who similarly never seems to go down, and is very fast with his dual pistols. Oh, and I shouldn't even have to mention the super scary, super agile Kevin (Elijah Wood). You will remember him. There's more unique characters, but it'd take all day to describe them. The fight scenes are bloody and just plain jaw dropping fun, if you like that sort of thing. I do. There are some minor down points, mostly pacing. once or twice. The movie is kinda long near the end. And if you didn't like either of the Kill Bills for violence than you should stay the heck away from this. But to everyone else, you deny yourselves a treat by ignoring this film. A.