Fantastic

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2005)

I have always been a big fan of Frank Miller's comic books, and I am not disappointed by his writing here, which is as solid as anything else he's done, but what is surprising is how well the visual side of things was done, but I suppose that a lot of credit would have to go to co-director Robert Rodriguez. Besides co-direction Rodriguez also shot, edited, and helped score the film. The acting was top notch with great turns by Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, and Benicio Del Toro, but I felt that the Ladies in the film Rosario Dawson, Britney Murphy and Jessica Alba, had little more to do than be damsels in distress and really, really, effective eye candy. The place where the acting and writing really shines is in the voice over dialog, it seems as if plucked right out of a 1950's film noir, the right mix of grit and nerve with some tenderness and a feeling of wanting to do something right. There are three vignettes in the film each focusing on Rourke, Owen, and Willis, and they all fit together eventually, as any serpentine plot should! What I really appreciated was that while each was from different sides of law enforcement, each seem to have a similar thought pattern, manner of speech, and ideology, showing that while their methods are different essentially these are just guys down on their luck and looking to help somebody out. Overall I though this film was really strong, excellent use of color and sound to help give a comic book feel and look and excellent performances, unfortunately only from the males in this case, and an overall cohesiveness in a pretty disjointed narrative. I really hope that Miller decides to put out another film and if there is a God it will be Dark Knight Returns. Brandon