Graphic Novel Graphic Violence

Rating: 8/10 (22 February 2008)

This is the most violent movie I have ever seen. (That does not mean that there's not more excessive films it just means that this is the most violent film that I've had the chance to see so far) It is essentially a graphic novel brought to life to show death. In the behind the scenes featurete guest director Quentin Taratino marvels at the likeness between Micky Rouke and the character from novel he portrays. The sociopath with a heart (for the women only) Marve.
He states; "It's almost as if Frank Miller gave birth to him.(yuck!)He drew Marve then he created an actor who could play Marve."
Well Frank Miller must have gotten an abortion because Marve gets fried... painfully in the electric chair at the end of his story. Not once but twice because he was too strong to die fast. His sarcastic last words reply after the first failed attempt are,"Is that the best you can do you patsies?" After which he is fried again this time killing him while blood trickles out his mouth. To me to show that death scene in a way so blatant shows a lack of consideration for the character and what he went through to avenge the death of his one night stand/love even if his methods were a little extreme in their own (prolonged torture).
Like the others have said; despite the abuse women receive in this movie the men have it worse. The only break a male hero character can receive is death. With the exception of Dwight McCarthy played by Clive Owen. I was curious to see it but was a little hesitant cause I knew it was going to be excessive but I didn't know it was going to be this excessive.At first it was your typical Robert Rodriguiez flick (a wannabe Pulp Fiction, scenes with dudes flying through the air after being shot with pistols, overcompensating action) then things got a little more morbid. It started as it began into the second story, the one with Marve. This second story actually cuts into the middle of the first one which was then finished latter on... just another example of Robert Rodriguiez's obsession with Pulp Fiction and his motivation to imitate it, in this case it was Pulp Fiction's disjointed chronology also NOTE: over the course of his career Robert Rodriguiez has appeared to have imitated some of Pulp Fiction's music (Desperado), violence scenes (Desperado, Once Opoun a Time in Mexico) and at least attempted by his own admission the gimmicky dialog (Once Opoun a Time in Mexico, see the commentary). One reason for this I believe is that he is a somewhat insecure film maker who dreams of greatness which is why he hangs out with Quentin Taratino who is seen by some as a "sacred cow" among the Hollywood elite. Anyway's back to the Marve story. On the graphic novel it is known as known as The Hard GoodBye. There's a scene where Marve was captured and imprisoned in the basement of a serial killer's house with his female probation officer who is naked (oh boy!)and who's hand had been chopped off and eaten by the psycho played by Elijah Wood. (oh yeah... wait what the F***!)Her traumatized scream; "He made me watch!!!" made me feel so ill. I was shaken to the core and the film still wouldn't let up a for a minute. Sin City must have been a movie goer's nightmare; being in a dark room with a big screen projector showing castrations, dismemberment's, and Frodo ,er sorry... Elijah Wood getting eaten by a dog. Strangely when I was watching it the DVD jammed and I was spared a break so I could recuperate until I decided to finish it. Yes that's right I finished it... and then I watched it AGAIN! Why you ask? Because I liked it. The violence was entertaining and I desensitized myself to it. If Sin City deserves credit for anything good it's the voice over's which I believe added so much depth to the characters. And it showed how ridiculous it would look if real life was as cartoonish as a comic books. Some scenes were so wacky and ridiculous they provide the film with almost no credibility. It is possible though that the scene where Kevin shows no pain on his face after being cut up, and fed to his own dog was a product of Marve's hallucinations which he admits he takes medication for. It could have been that Kevin was already killed by Marve's powerful punch to the head and the whole time he was dismembering a corpse, and imagining that it was staring back at him. But the scene's not explained that way it's just a cool theory. Personally I think Robert Rodriguiez looked at this film more of as a cool little project to do instead of as a film he could be proud of, or cherish that he made it.