Thin gruel for a starving palate

Rating: 6/10 (22 April 2005)

This movie should have been much better. Visually impressive, it lacked any story whatsoever, and left me wondering, well into the "Marv" bit, when this movie would actually get started. It simmered long enough, but fresh scenes of gore, or the dialogue to seed the ideas, does not make a good movie. "Natural Born Killers" was all the rage when it came out, but its groundbreaking visuals grew dated very quickly without the solid writing and strong acting of the "Badlands" example it tried to update.
I haven't looked at Miller's graphic novels, but having read other IMDb reviews raving about "Sin City" (the movie's) great story lines, I don't intend to seek out the originals. Truly, the one saving grace of this movie was Rourke's performance; as with Travolta's resurrection in "Pulp Fiction," I predict we'll see a lot more from Rourke in the future.
It seems to me that "Sin City" capitalizes on the same energy as "Kill Bill- Vol. 1," but just doesn't pull it off nearly as well. It's sad, but there will never be another chance to do "Sin City" the right way, the first time, again. And really, if this WAS "the right way" to do "Sin City," it doesn't say much for Miller's graphic novels.