Know Thyself, and Stay True

Rating: 8/10 (13 April 2020)

One important aspect of any media that keeps coming up for me as of late, and appears to be somewhat overlooked, is the ability for a film, TV show or book to know itself. That is to say, they should understand the type of media they are trying to produce and stay faithful to that, not get bogged down in unnecessary cliche and exposition, and use every aesthetic and storytelling tool to realize the premise they started with. The ability to stay true to oneself is up there with dialogue and visuals in terms of its importance in creating a believable and impactful film. There's a reason that everyone from early morning children's cartoons to Lady Gaga tells you to just be yourself. One film that does this exceptionally well is Sin City.
In one respect, Sin City starts with some advantages in this way. To begin with, it is an adaptation of an exceptional graphic novel. The film needed only to stay faithful to the original and it was bound to be something special, and that is exactly what they did, keeping the stunningly contrasting aesthetics and largely including the dialogue. Graphic novels have had a great ability to keep this authenticity. They can take the neo-noir visuals and translate them well onto the big screen in order to keep that feeling of turning pages and viewing something real but not too real. V For Vendetta (2005) and 300 (2006) are some of the best examples of this. The colors and the landscapes are not quite realistic, and the fighting is almost believable. They are clearly comic books in the form of film. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) has very literal moments of comic visuals, and the fight scenes make no excuses, they are wild and crazy just as we would expect. Sin City captures both of these concepts beautifully. The colorful blood, the ridiculous fighting, the wonderfully overacted dialogue all remind the audience that they are watching a comic book. There are moments to make you say "What the hell!" enough for five films.
This is in contrast to comic book adaptations, which are significantly more malleable. Take the Marvel universe. Surely, there are wonderful and revolutionary films, but they take many forms. Ant Man (2015) is a comedy film. The Avengers series is epic sci-fi fantasy. And the Daredevil series on Netflix is a gritty crime drama. This is the advantage of having a huge amount of source material and an extensive canon to work with. You can pick and choose pieces to fit as you need them. Graphic novels are generally a lot more limited, and their ability to stay truthful to the source material is incredibly important in creating something that both new audiences and die-hard fans of the work will appreciate.
The second advantage was having Robert Rodriguez as the director and Quentin Tarantino making a guest appearance. Rodriguez has an excellent ability to keep a film true to its intentions, even if the film itself is not particularly amazing. His later projects after Sin City show this pretty nicely. Planet Terror (2007) is a masterpiece of camp and gross-out horror. It is cartoonish and sarcastic without making any excuse to become realistic or heartfelt. Machete (2010) is a non-stop highlight reel of carnage. Just like the "fake" trailer that inspired it, it was ridiculous and amazing. Spy Kids (2001) and Spy Kids 2 (2002), which are altogether mediocre films, should have had no staying power whatsoever. Yet the film's names still resonate with many and the thumb people and guy with four heads still give me nightmares, at least. Somehow the success of these films was enough even to convince a studio to make a fourth installment ten years later.
Sin City stays aware of itself from top to bottom, and from start to finish. The musical accompaniment is perfectly noir. Every actor has bought into the concept as so each character, no matter how minor, plays an important role in making the world (un)believable. The sets are clearly built in some studio, but it doesn't matter. We know that behind the walls is just some wooden paneling holding everything together, just like we know that a book is bound together by glue and threads, but it doesn't stop us from being totally engrossed.
Many films fail to maintain this truthfulness, and that brings them from great movies to something simply good or acceptable. Take, for example, nearly any major Disney Studios release from the last ten to twenty years. The Disney execs are so intent on keeping films inside of a basic and successful formula that they lose their sense of authenticity. They have to shoehorn in romance, rebellion, an evil villain and the hero's journey into any film whether it fits or not, because that is what the audiences want. These movies will always be successful, that's Disney's power, but they rarely get discussed in top lists during the years in review.
Sequels also especially fall into this trap because they stray too far from what they originally intended. Perhaps there is a change in directors, producers or writers, but even when they stay the same this can happen. Take IT (2017) and IT: Chapter Two (2019). What made the original so terrifying was its portrayal of the monster and the feeling of helplessness that was inspired in every audience member. Thirty minutes into the second film, though, this feeling is lost. IT is no longer omnipotent or villainous. He is more mischievous and manipulative. These traits would be okay if the whole construct of this universe didn't hinge on the monstrosity of the villain. IT: Chapter Two has none of the authenticity, and therefore none of the power of the first film.
Sin City is a fantastic film in its own right, but it is a lesson too. A lesson on how to take a concept and run with it for two hours to the very apex of that idea. Perhaps some artists are worried about taking something too far. Well, I say not far enough. Push it to the extreme and see what happens. Let your characters become caricatures if the framework is already a caricature of reality. No one will blame you for making something silly and weird if it makes them think. The feeling of Sin City resonated in my mind for years even before I rewatched it recently. This is not because it stuck to a formula and made some generically marketable, but because it took the truth of itself to the very extreme that it could and made something so cartoonish it became a lifelike work of art.