As Far As Adapting Source Material Goes, It's Pretty Flawless.

Rating: 10/10 (2 September 2014)

"Sin City", came out in 2005 and really makes use of its 18 certificate, delivering a more than faithful adaptation of three of Frank Miller's yarns. Considering I was 13 at the time of it's release, looking back it really had quite the ensemble cast for the genre. Now as a 22 year old having read the books, Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller & Quentin Tarantino did a superb job in literally bringing the black and white off the pages and onto the screen.
"The Hard Goodbye" is about Marv (Mickey Rourke), who begins an investigation to find who killed his one night stand sweetheart. "The Big Fat Kill" focuses on Dwight (Clive Owen), caught in the middle of a street war between the prostitutes of "Old town", and a group of mercenaries. "That Yellow Bastard" follows ageing police officer John Hartigan (Bruce Willis), who protects a young woman from a paedophile serial killer, who later becomes grotesquely disfigured. Finally, the 2 minute intro and finale of the film are based on "The Customer is Always Right", a short story from another book in the series.
The narrative structure benefits from telling some portions of each story out of chronology. It's not particularly fantastic, but it is nevertheless implemented and works surprisingly well. I say this only because the home release extended cut decides to tell each story separate and because of it, it loses it's tightly weaved structure. Regardless, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the movie in the slightest.
Of course what really distinguishes itself from the rest of it's comic book counterparts is its style. After all the good I have to say about "Sin City", I'm not the biggest fan of the books. I love their classic noir stories, characters and dialogue. However, some of it is really badly written, repetitious as all hell and like 80% of Frank's work, every female is a prostitute. The "Sin City" movie takes all the best material the books have to offer, and elevates it somewhat with really talented performers and recreating some scenes right out of the book itself.
Other than that, I urge you to read up on how they made the movie. It's pretty spectacular when you realise that some of the interactions between the actors never happened, as they were still awaiting to be casted. The few colours they choose to implement is sparse yet effective, when you see it all in it's entirety the CGI visuals are pretty unforgettable. Some of my peers won't watch a classic 1940's film-noir story, yet they'll watch "Sin City". I've got to get some new friends.
Final Verdict: As I write, "Sin City" is nearly a decade old. Yet the execution and efforts of everyone involved are going to make it somewhat timeless, and some of the best of genre has to offer. 10/10.