A Solid Film School Project

Rating: 3/10 (24 August 2005)

Sin City opens with a scene between Bruce Willis and Michael Madsen - two actors that aren't among the greatest talents that Hollywood has to offer, but two actors whom I enjoy and who are capable of more than just holding their own in the right role. And this should have been the right role for both of them. Dark. Gritty. Crime-ridden. Willis as a golden-hearted, tough-minded beat cop and Madsen as a much darker version of the same. Unfortunately, my first thought was, "Madsen isn't even acting. He's just standing there, reading his lines. What's up? He really sucks!" And my second thought, which was repeatedly endlessly throughout what I can only loosely define as a "film" was, "Okay... These are some pretty solid actors. At some point, this movie has to get better." It never did.
To the makers of Sin City, I want a refund. You owe me $3 and the two hours of my life I lost enduring this total piece of drek. Had I known going in how outrageously bad this entire film was going to be from start to finish, I would have picketed the video store with a large placard that said, "Sin City is Spy Kids with boobs and violence - only not as good as that sounds." At some point, an actor actually has to act. The monotone delivery of lines has it's place, but should not be used in every scene by every actor in the movie. (Thank you, Brittany Murphy, for actually emoting!) This was the first film I have ever seen where every single major character thinks that they're the narrator. What in the hell were you thinking? And yet, in the midst of what was a plot less collection of short-stories masquerading as a movie, tucked among what were universally horrendous performances by Willis, Madsen, Michael Clarke Duncan (who was completely miscast) and the like, Mickey Rourke (of all people), pulls a heck of a turn as steel-jawed Marv out of a hat and makes his portion of this incredibly disjointed movie, not only bearable, but enjoyable. You felt for Marv. You wanted him to succeed, the dark, sick, potentially mentally unstable killer that he was. Marv had a motivation for what he did. You understood his love for Goldie and how it could push him to seek retribution for her death, even if Marv had only known her for a matter of hours. Rourke's turn as Marv was that subtle and nuanced, even when deeply submerged in unbridled violence. Unfortunately, that was the true tragedy of the film. Rourke's performance gave you just enough hope that the movie would improve and become somewhat palatable that you were able to summon enough courage to suffer through all the way to the end.
Grade: D-plus (And it would have been an "F" but at least the visuals were interesting - and Rourke's performance alone is worth raising this thing an entire grade). But as a final note to the directors (yes, that's plural - Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez shared the title of Director while Quentin Tarantino co-directed), comic books should be adapted to movies. Movies should not be moving comic books. The visual concept was interesting for the first ten minutes of the film and then was just annoying. Audiences actually enjoy films that are more than line drawings with a single splash of color thrown in for effect.