A fun ride down a twisted highway, with good actors in a disturbing B-movie

Rating: 8/10 (13 April 2005)

"Sin City" is one of the more accurately named motion pictures to come out quite some time. There's hardly a moment on screen that isn't drenched in depravity, sleazy filth and urban Gothic horror. It walks a thin line between art and cine-trash, and sometimes it gleefully drops into the abyss.
The story follows three down-on-their-luck individuals who inhabit the fiction Basin City, a town that has been digitally created to invoke film noir at its most intense. The first section follows Marv (Mickey Rourke) is a Frankenstein of a man, deformed in the face but built like a Tiger tank. He just had his first enjoyable night with a woman in a long time only to wake up to find her dead and himself being blamed for the crime.
Driven more by a twisted form of obligation to the beautiful Goldie then a sense of self-preservation, Marv goes on a killing spree across Sin City, hoping to uncover who was behind the murder. In another story, Dwight (Clive Owen) is creep with a sense of honor when it comes to protecting women, and roughs up on a punk named Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) who's an ex-boyfriend of his current squeeze Shellie (Brittany Murphy). Their encounter leads to a confrontation that might end up shattering a truce between the police and a cadre of machine-gun toting hookers. Don't ask.
The final story centers on police detective named Hartigan (Bruce Willis) who stumbles on a child molester who just so happens to be the son of a U.S. Senator. Jr. (Nick Stahl) is left shot up by Hartigan, who is forced to take the rap in exchange for protecting the life of the girl who was to be Jr's latest victim. When Hartigan finally leaves prison, he goes searching for the girl, Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba), who has now grown up into an exotic dancer. Hartigan is left trying to protect a girl he doesn't completely know anymore from a mysterious killer known as the Yellow Bastard.
"Sin City" is a grotesque nightmare brought to life. It plays like "Dick Tracy" written for "The Crow" crowd. If Ralph Bakshi ever directed a live action movie, it would probably be something like this. Legendary comic book creator Frank Miller's graphic novels are brought to life in a world filled with dank back alleys and grisly executions.
What is really shocking about the film is the level of violence. Throughout the course of its run, there are be-headings, hacked off limbs, brutal gunshot wounds and people beaten within an inch of their life. There's even one scene where a man loses something near and dear to him that I'd rather not mention in a polite publication. Nothing is left to the imagination. It's all here, and it's a wonder this film was able to squeak by without an NC-17 rating.
Director Robert Rodriguez creates a believable noir world thanks to and mostly black and white photography with a few splotches of color and green screen technology. He employs it here much better than it was used in last year's "Sky Captain in the World of Tomorrow," but for much sinister purposes. This is a sick exercise in the surreal, and many people won't be able to stomach it. There's stuff here that puts the gore in "RoboCop" to shame.
The acting is above reproach, especially Rourke and Willis who really get into their characters. Elijah Wood shows up as a nearly feral cannibal in a performance that is light-years away from his work in "The Lord of the Rings." Rosario Dawson is intense as Gail, the lead gun-toting prostitute heading up O-Town. Owens and Del Toro are coiled balls of ferocity ready to explode. Everyone gets into their characters, and you forget you watching actors on screen.
"Sin City" is destined to be a cult classic, maybe even a box office hit. But each image reeks of human depravity and punishment that it become an endurance test to sit through it all. Fans of Miller's comics should get what they want, but for others, this is a relentless ride down a highway of debauchery that many will wish to exit at the first off ramp.
8 out of 10 stars. It's a visually astonishing motion picture filled with great actors, but you may want to bring a barf bag with you when you watch it.