Visually stunning craft that shocks and spills

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2009)

Hartigan, an aging cop on the verge of retirement, is looking to finish one last case. Marv vows to find his love's killer. Dwight looks to stop a raging man causing havoc in Old Town.
Sin City explores various stories from Frank Miller's comic book series. Having never read any of the comics myself, I find myself compelled to pick one up after sitting through a visually stunning ultra violent noir that stuns and entertains.
With its remarkable cast of Willis, Rourke, Owen, Murphy, Alba, Bell and Wood, it may appeal as a money-making flashy film but each actor justifies their reputation with some cold yet likable portrayals in a film that contains many of Miller's stories.
Jumping from story to story as if on a pogo stick, Sin City justifies the essence of a crime world by having multiple different narratives encoded. By focusing on different areas, we get a wide spread feel of the city as a hole and what happens underneath the glitz and glamour.
From Rourke's rough and tough Marv to Wood's silent and freakish Kevin do we have an assemble of different protagonists with their own personal agendas. The performances are forgotten in the collection of dramatic issues from the stories such as loyalty, vengeance and sexuality. Though scraping a preaching message, the film is out there to shock and entertain, which it does through high drama and action.
The storyboard styled choreography and visuals works up a stunning treat. From the black and white to the occasional spurts of colour do we feast our eyes on the darkest and most dramatic noir in recent times. Unless you view this for yourself, you will never know the efficiency and scale of the talent on show. There are surely few arguments about this being the most visually stunning in crime noir history. Balancing the colour is a marvellous technique and we see the most iconic moments shining through, in particular Goldie, a true femme fatale.
There are down sides however. Frequent lapses and misjudged dialogue particular evident in Clive Owen's story of Dwight. Benicio Del Toro's awkward act as Jackie Boy further puts a damper on which not even a twist can amend.
Sin City is a visually artistic masterpiece beautifully crafted by Miller and Rodriguez with some good acting, but the visuals will stick with you a long time.