Stupendously awful

Rating: 1/10 (3 June 2005)

First I have to admit: I have never read the comics, because I usually dislike comics. Then again a film should stand alone as a film regardless of it being an adaptation of anything, be it a novel, comics or anything else. Indeed the cinematography in Sin City is interesting and the aesthetics is stylish and glittery. But that doesn't change the fact that Sin City is truly awful. It is perhaps one of the worst films I have seen in years. Its 124 minutes were excruciatingly dull, devoid of humour, interest or even a narrative that actually makes sense. Who cares about a disfigured bully on a campaign of mutilation, a violent cop craving for sex, or a good whore saviour fighting a bunch of Irish grenade freaks jumping out of no where? None of the characters have any human attributes to them. They all fail to become nothing more than cartoons. Sin City is boring, self indulgent, superficial, idiotic, childish, and perhaps more pertinently of them all, lacking any substance or insight with which I could identify as a viewer. It is nothing but meaningless fluff. There is something profoundly American about Sin City, and about the enthusiasm with which it is received. It is a vacuous concoction of all American themes, from the rotten cop to the good hearted criminal and the benevolent prostitute, packaged through recycled motifs and images of American consumerism. But it has no narrative, no tangible metaphor, nor any inkling of a remark on life or human existence. It is, to quote the lead character of 'Fight Club', a "copy of a copy of a copy", which amounts to nothing more than the collection of images that it reproduces. Like the fake tans and breasts which dominate Santa Monica beach, Sin City is nice to look at, but very unpleasant to touch. Behind the pretentious stylishness is an orgy of violence, sexism, chauvinism and fetishism, which is basically two vile and boring hours about nothingness.