3 1/2 out of 10

Rating: 3/10 (10 April 2005)

This movie is at the very least a half-hour too long. The multiple plots are unbalanced and I had little desire to put the pieces of the stories puzzle together. Midway through the movie I was hoping it would end quickly. I turned to a friend sitting next to me and said, "This move refuses to end." The voice-overs for the most part are monotone and dry. Yes the visuals are superb, maybe even unparalleled, yet it seemed as if the rest of the films elements took a back seat and the audience thrown out the window. A stellar cast could not save this movie, especially when those actors were not in peak form (Rosario Dawson and Clive Owen to name a pair). I really wanted to like this movie. I grew up a fan of comics and I'm a fan of some of the Tarentino style films (Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill). However, 10 minutes into the movie you get past the awe inspiring visuals and ask the movie to deliver more. In my humble opinion, it simply does not. It's a film that takes itself too seriously. It doesn't waste a chance to pat itself on the back. It thinks it's full of poetry when it is not. It assumes that people want to connect the dots and that they will be drawn into its dark characters. I simply did not care. I love great anti-hero's (The Stranger by Albert Camus). These guys, though, do not fall into that category. Lastly, what was the deal with the Nazi symbols? I'm not Jewish, but I was bothered by them. Whoever's idea it was, it simply didn't add anything to the movie other than have me think about the holocaust during the movie. Also, the film would have benefited form some of the cynicism towards the church around the time of the sex scandals rather than a period when the whole world is praising the recently deceased Pope. Unfortunate timing. I only mention this because I saw some people walk out. I also wanted to bail, but not because institutionalized religion gets linked to the world of sin (actually much deserved) but because the only corner I wanted to turn in Sin City was one leading out.