Third One is much, much, much more than a Charm for Miller

Rating: 10/10 (2 July 2005)

It took about three tries, but finally Frank Miller will receive the credit he deserves as one of America's finest comic book writers after an excellent translation of Sin City to the big screen. While the other two movies (Daredevil and Elektra) tanked mainly because the directors compromised Miller's material in order to satisfy dim audiences and producers, the translation of Sin City is seamless, and while Miller deserves all the credit in the world for his amazing story that is noir at its best, Robert Rodriguez should also receive a fair share as well, as a director that perhaps is up there with fellow director and friend Quentin Tarantino. Without a doubt, Sin City is a film that will shock audiences and punch them in the mouth, but for a true fan of the crime and pulp genre, this is a film that is heaven on a silver platter.
Of course, the most glaring positive of Sin City is definitely the cinematography, which should win an award at the Oscars if the Oscar guild knows any better. The fantastic mix of Black and White and color is amazing on the eye, and adds to the seedy tone of the movie, making the movie less of a big screen film, and more of a moving comic book. In addition, Rodriguez's idea of having the movie's backgrounds being completely computer-generated was ingenious, and without a doubt more of a technological breakthrough than the film that tried this method before, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Thanks to Rodriguez's idea of computer-generated background, everything from strip clubs to highways to even barns match the graphic novel exactly and give the film an even grittier feel that not even the best independent pulp film out there could give.
Computer graphic can't make a movie though, and it is quite obvious from such stinkers as AI and Twister, where all the amazing special effects are only frosting on a bad cake. Yet Sin City amazingly exceeds even greater in other areas, such as acting where mesmerizing performances are given from nearly all the actors, adding onto the already fascinating story. The most breakthrough performance of the bunch is from Mickey Rourke, an 80's actor of previous fame from the also controversial film 9 1/2 Weeks. Rourke's performance as Marv is not only the best of the film, it is probably the best of his career and the best job of narrating in a film in a long time (it probably stands up there with Morgan Freeman's narrating in Shawshank Redemption even). In addition, while Marv is the tough guy that stands the most in the film, famous tough guys such as Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, and Michael Madsen also give commendable performances that stand out and give extra balls to a movie that has more than enough to begin with. Clive Owen also does a decent job in the movie, but doesn't compare to the tough guys such as Willis and Rourke, making the 2nd part of the film, The Big Fat Kill, a bit tough to watch. This miscast though is only a minor problem though, for the other male actors make up for the slack, and the female tough-girl performances from Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy and Alexis Biedel surpass it by miles, making people forget all about Owen's slight miscast. Surprisingly, Biedel's performance is pretty much the most surprising of the film, for she does an incredible job of making the transition from her geeky and boring show, Gilmore Girls into an incredible movie like this and playing her role perfectly. She is definitely an actress that deserves much better roles in much more mature movies than the "Teen" dramas such as her newest film, "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants".
Sin City is a masterpiece, no bones about it. It's a film that will get a lot of attention from angry Christian mothers about it's violence, gore and sexuality but the bottom line is, this movie is not meant to be made for children. Just like Frank Miller's comic, Sin City, wasn't made for children either. It is testament to pulp lovers everywhere, people who had fond memories of the hard-hitting in your face action from books such as "I, The Jury" by Mickey Spillane and "The Maltese Falcon" by Dashiell Hammett. However, the film is not limited to that, for it is a film that is hardcore enough for pulp geeks everywhere and mainstream enough for the casual, adult fan. Fans of cinema will adore it, bible bashes will be disgusted, but it is still an incredible film that deserves to be seen by film lovers everywhere, because it is definitely a film that lives up to the hype and goes much, much beyond.
Bottom Line: Best Crime Movie ever, if you have a pulse see it.