Nihilistic and grotesque

Rating: 1/10 (27 November 2005)

I concede that Sin City is a visually interesting (some might say amazing) movie. The framing of the shots, the animation integrated with the movie, and the black-and-white with splashes of color are admirable cinematic efforts.
Unfortunately, these efforts are in the service of a story that is so devoid of art that the movie soon becomes tedious and disgusting. Many here have written of the graphic violence. Some may defend it by calling it "cartoonish" or "stylized." I call "b.s." The violence is nihilistic. It rejects all moral decisions and behaviors, and everyone is equally empty and ultimately inconsequential. The violent acts are non-stop and monstrous.
The dialogue and story give the actors nothing to work with, so even good actors such as Benecio del Toro and Clive Owen are as one-note and amateurish as the wooden Josh Hartnett (in a pointless walk-on role) and the barely there Alexis Bleidel. The non-stop hard- boiled narration is grating and superfluous, corny and eye-rolling.
Sin City is supposed to be a film noir. A true film noir shows you characters that are difficult to watch: think Treasure of the Sierra Madre, or Double Indemnity. Yet something in those characters make you understand why they do what they do. You can relate to them, as they show their humanity and weakness, the heart of darkness we all have inside. Those plots have mystery and intrigue, as you're drawn into a dark world and have no idea how the characters will get out.
Sin City is NOT a film noir. I'm not sure what it is, other than a very violent and simplistic comic book faithfully brought to the screen. That faithfulness to the comic book aesthetic shows up in the art direction, but also in the one dimensional characters; lame, slow-moving plots; pointless "hard-boiled" narration and dialogue; and extreme gratuitous violence.