Comic-book adaptation.Redefined.

Rating: 10/10 (11 October 2005)

"Will that give you satisfaction, my son? Killing a helpless,old,fart." "No.Not killing.Everything up until the killing, will be a gas." This exchange between Rutger Hauer's evil Cardinal Roark and Mickey Rourke's human bulldozer Marv makes it pretty clear that in this movie, happy ending is no option.It's never gonna happen, 'cos we're talking about a world where only two sides of the law exist:bad side and much worse side.All characters are redemption-less, with the exception of Jessica Alba's angelic stripper Nancy, and even if we sympathize with these fellas, we know they had it coming if something bad happens.
Sin City is the first literal adaptation of a comic-book:panels are recreated shot-for-shot, dialogs are directly transposed, the black and white town is entirely CG so it will look just like Frank Miller's astounding graphic novels.
Miller and co-director Robert Rodriguez don't hesitate when it comes to showing disgusting or surreal situations: pedophilia, castration, cannibalism, talking corpses, several mutilated bodies, nothing is left behind, as we witness an ordinary day in the lives of Sin City's "heroes".
The ensemble cast is simply awesome: Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Alexis Bledel, Michael Clarke Duncan, Benicio Del Toro, they're all perfect. But the real STANDOUT is Mickey Rourke: his Marv is a brutal,sadistic,gladiatoresque psycho, but he's got a heart, and that's why we eventually end up loving him. Rodriguez has done to Rourke what Quentin Tarantino did to John Travolta with Pulp Fiction.Fitting comparison, since QT guest-directed this movie's most hilarious and weird sequence.
In the movie Marv says"Hell is waking up every morning and not knowing why you're there." Well, these guys know why they are in Sin City, and their return is already highly anticipated.
Bring on the sequels!