If you rated this movie anything higher than a 4/10 you need counseling ASAP.

Rating: 1/10 (17 April 2005)

Don't be fooled by all of the supposedly good reviews... That's the movie studio pimping it out, shelling out the big bucks to pay people to fill online message boards, and paying off movie critics to write good reviews. Otherwise, there's no justification for straight A's on Yahoo user reviews.
I'm a relatively liberal guy; I like horrors, and I am not squeamish when it comes to violence in the movies. But this movie was in an entirely new category of movies, one in which the directors should be ordered to undergo counseling for the public's safety. This is probably the closest thing to a snuff film marketed for mass audience. "Sin City" gives me reason to wonder if movies do help inspire Columbine-like massacres. There's a basic, predictable plot-line to the movie. 1) Woman is abused. 2) Man takes justice into his own hands. 3) Man chases down everyone involved, killing everything in his path. 4) Man murders, in cold blood, everyone even slightly involved. 5) Man tortures and removes family jewels of "bad guy." 6) Man beheads, dismembers, feeds to dog, etc. bad guy. 7) Man kills himself. (Sound familiar?)
In fact, at the end, I said "let me guess, he (the protagonist) is going to shoot himself." And he did, for no good reason...it was just predictable. The point? Squeeze as much violence into the movie as possible. In other words, violence purely for the sake of it. Not because it would add any dramatic element to the movie...
In fact, the psychological disconnect is what bothers me, it makes me wonder if this movie might actually help to brainwash people into thinking that violence (i.e. beating women) is alright. I don't mean to sound preachy; in fact, I'm not that kind of guy.
The movie glamorizes violence as the way to resolve problems. Images of clean-shaved soldiers at Abu Ghraib, or a man shooting an unarmed enemy combatant, come to mind...are we becoming a society that thinks it's OK to shoot first, and ask questions later? Don't we have any shred of decency that values human life? After seeing people walk out of the movie theater early (I, myself, would have left except that I was the driver for my group of friends), I was relieved to know that I was not the only one asking these kinds of questions.
I'm not advocating censorship; I do, however, believe in boycotting, etc. I regretted not asking for my money back, not because I couldn't sit through the movie, but because I know it's going to fill the pockets of some warp, sick, twisted, perverted, sexist, misogynists and encourage them to make more movies like this one. It's just pure, unadulterated junk, junk, junk, junk, junk!
I've been told it's a comic book story, that's how comic books are. I suppose I just don't "Get It." Sure, and what about Batman, Spiderman, and X-Men, none of which were really awful movies, like "Sin City"?
And another reason why I think this movie is for teenage boys, is because of how it portrays women. In fact, it was almost like a Harlequinn Romance novel/"chick flick" for males.
Look at all the terribly offensive stereotypes: Men with wife-beaters, leather jackets, cigarettes, beating their girls, and taking justice into their own hands. Women with skin-tight leather outfits, breasts exposed, smoking cigarettes, all beaten-up, helpless, and needing to be saved. Even the hardcore-prostitute gang ends up needing to be rescued by a man in the end...
Furthermore, the movie suffers from (in psycho-babble terms) a virgin-whore complex; meaning, if a woman isn't a virgin, then she's a whore. In the movie, if she isn't a prostitute yet, by the end of the movie she's at least become a stripper, while the guys are portrayed as all high-moral and good.
How many shots lingering on a woman's butt or breast before we get the impression the directors are objectifying women? I'm a man, and yet I was still offended! The whole thing is just so dang sexist, it makes me wonder how much society has progressed in the past thirty years.
The poor girls that I went with were traumatized, to say the least. They went home and watched Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, because it was the most wholesome thing they could find in their apartment. It's too bad I couldn't erase the memories of last night. If you're going to see this movie, any way, stop by a Chinese restaurant first. Then, when you're leaving, take some chop sticks. That way, you'll be prepared when you want to poke your eyes out.