As mindless as it is violent

Rating: 5/10 (2 April 2005)

Sin City is the definition of style over substance. Yes, Rodriguez's direction does make the film look like a comic book (sorry, graphic novel). Wow, neat.
There is nothing else of any interest in this film. The three stories are Schwarzenegger fare. The "characters" are two-dimensional thugs. The women are all helpless damsels in distress--even the gun-toting prostitutes of Old Town, who do little to help themselves while Clive Owen pretty much single-handedly saves the day. He does have help from Miho, a Japanese woman who of course wields an arsenal of ninja and samurai weapons instead of guns, as well as possessing seemingly supernatural powers. That's just one example of how the film relies on shorthand to tell us everything we need to know about the characters so that it can fit in more killing.
It pains me to see so many comparisons to film noir. This film has more to do with the ultra-violent comic books of the 50s that prompted the Comics Code Authority to censor them, nearly wiping out the medium altogether. My question is, if Rodriguez wanted to make a throwback to those books, why not make a film that shows that violence can serve a purpose in such a story, and should not be censored, rather than something based on how totally sweet it is to see people get shot?