When you marry film noir with comic-book action,you get this.

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2005)

This might be one of the more unique film experiences one will have this year. I say that because the movie,which is rife with all the conventions of the Quentin Tarrantino/Robert Rodriguez genre,has one major distinction about it:It is entirely filmed inside of a green-screened sound-stage in Texas.
The title summary is about the best way to describe it: It is a combination of very retro styles,combined with more current sensibilities(i.e.full frontal-nudity,explicit violence,quirky dialogue). There are so many name actors in this film that one almost would be led to believe that the producers and directors of the film were lacking confidence in how it would stand on its own merits.
One would be wrong however. The acting in this film,primarily Bruce Willis as Hartigan,the single-minded,hardened cop,Mickey Rourke as MArv,the grizzled violent beast of a man who knows he is being unjustly framed for a murder of someone he loved(albeit briefly),Clive Owen as Dwight,an ex-con who seems to have more conscience than the cops or even the prostitutes he has sworn to protect,Rosario Dawson as Gail,the unofficial leader of the prostitutes who becomes Dwight's lover,and Jessica Alba as NAncy,the "skinny,bookish girl"whom HArtigan saved before and must save again from a deranged killer. These five give very stirring performances to back up the cash value of the superb art direction,clever storytelling and nifty use of violence to accent this offering from Rodriguez and graphic novel creator and co-director Frank Miller.
I must warn people that this film is NOT for everyone.I know that phrase is bandied about with many movies,but this movie is almost a definitive of that phrase,as the themes and images of this movie are most certainly unsettle anyone with no taste or patience for their entertainment being both rugged and cartoonish simultaneously. But I don't mind that element of a movie at all,so long as it's done right.