Definitely not Sin Sh!tty

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2005)

STAR RATING: ***** Unmissable **** Very Good *** Okay ** You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead * Avoid At All Costs
Sin City is a dirty little place where a group of disheartened characters go about their downbeat little business. We open with Hartigan (Bruce Willis) a cop nearing 60 with angina problems who nevertheless remains hell-bent on bringing in the abductor, molester and potential killer of a little girl who happens to be the son of a prominent senator. This, however, leads him down a depressing personal path destined to end in disharmony. We then move in on Marv (Mickey Rourke) a go-it-alone tough guy whose downfall will be his need to bring the killers of a hooker he loved to justice. Then there's Dwight (Clive Owen) who wants to protect his new love Shellie (Brittany Murphy) from her ex-lover Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) and his gang and in doing so shatters a truce between the hookers of Sin City, the local cops and the mob. To round off this series of interwoven tales, we go back to Hartigan who has to go on trying to protect the little girl he saved in her childhood in her adult years.
Filmed in distinctive film noir style, in terms of presentation at least, Sin City is the first must-see movie of the year. It's also a comic book movie of an entirely different kind. While similar ideas were expressed in the 2003 adaptation of Hulk, this comic-book-on-the-big-screen movie is aimed squairely at the adult market (certainly won't be appearing in no Saturday morning matinée!) with the emphasis on ultra-violence and as much flesh bearing sexual insinuation as you can imagine. In fact, it's one of those movies where at times it seems like the violence is so graphic it's almost parodying the notion of screen violence just as a knowing wink to the audience that it knows what they're all thinking.
On the performances front, Willis can play the hard-boiled, edgy cop persona practically in his sleep (though his wise-cracking edge is conspicuously absent here!) with ten years added on his character here, Rourke too does his standard specialty to perfection as the brooding tough-guy and Owen obviously took my King Arthur comment to heart and became a better performer. The best part of it is his fabulous American accent. It's basically just the main cast doing what they've always done, but knowing what they've always done and doing it well.
Overall, this is one that those without the blessings of strong stomachs might have trouble enjoying or those with a value that women have come on as more than just sex objects, but it's an impressively told collection of tales with a great cast and a presentation and style that really makes it stand out. ****