Everything is bigger in Sin City

Rating: 9/10 (17 February 2012)

IMDb Top 250: 108
Can you tolerate extreme violence, lavish sexiness and black comedy? It all awaits you in Sn City: an unbelievably cool and gritty film, a heavily, heavily stylized neo-noir, and a 'comic book come to life'. Take a still shot from the film and you could confuse it with a detailed comic. Before discussing the rest of the film I'll get this out of the way: Sin City is the most visually arresting film I have seen thus far, and is an artistically amazing piece of art.
After an interesting prologue to hotwire a viewer into the Sin City style, we are treated to a very Grand Theft Auto-esque opening credits, with comic book characters and their respective actors, accompanied by the slickest theme music in recent memory. Then we are thrown into the first of several tales of crime, hookers and violence- which at their core are really stories of love and its... derivatives. The stories a very engaging and twisted, and offer good closure. And they're refreshingly straightforward, surprising considering Tarantino is onboard as a 'special guest director'.
As over the top as the art style is, the characters are just as big. There's no singular protagonist, but a cast of heroes and villains. Hartigan is a true hero, the incorruptible savior. In contrast, the other major 'hero', Marv, is just a simple and passionate man. Much less physically imposing than these two is Dwight, the closest thing to a straight character, but who still has his quirks. The entire support is great, including Jackie Boy and the sickening Yellow Bastard, as well as by all the female cast, who are either strippers, dancers, or an assassin. Special note goes to the character of Kevin, played eerily by Elijah Wood. He's absolutely terrifying, especially with the hypnotic theme that always plays in his presence. The cast is amazing, and everyone has a large dose of 'comic' in their performances.
As stylish as the visuals are, the action equals. Men go flying after punches,blood sprays, and cars fly over bumps. There are many astounding scenes of violence, as well as monologues and narrations only possible in a film like this. The action is over the top, the carnage outrageously brutal, with hints of absolute black comedy. (Swastika shurikens? The Yellow Bastard?)
Sin City has fantastic, loving direction, and is a magnificent technical and artistic achievement that cranks to '10' in every category but swearing. It's a top tier noir, and a very unique film. If it was a wholly original concept for the screen I think it could have been lauded even more. If you can handle this, see it. 8.9/10