Fantastic!

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2005)

Robert Rodriguez doesn't seem to know the word moderation. His movies over the past ten years or so have either consisted of children's flicks like the Spy Kids series or violent bloodfests like the Marachi saga. The idea of an 'M' rated movie seems abhorrent.
Which brings us nicely to his latest venture- an adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel series Sin City.
This is not a movie for everybody's taste; and although the MA15+ may suggest that already, I find it hard to believe that this got away with a softer rating than Kill Bill Vol. 1 after what some of the characters go through. This is not the sort of cartoonesque violence that made Kill Bill so wild and stylish, rather Rodriguez, Miller and Tarantino ( as a 'guest director' ) show a much more darker and grittier world of violence that is dominated in black in white, with only the odd emphasis of colour.
The plot is actually 3 stories- all loosely connected with one another. Bruce Willis stars in the first one as Hartigan- a cop whose early retirement plans are cut short due to a combination of his own obsessions with justice and his partner Bob ( Michael Madsen ); only to find his obsession later on all grown up in the form of Jessica Alba and his nemesis still alive in the form of what can only be described as something seen to be believed. Mickey Rourke in the second story plays Marv- a convict who is determined to get to the bottom of who killed a hooker that spent the night with him. This perhaps sees one of the most interesting performances of the movie in the form of Elijah Wood, who after Frodo Baggins, plays Kevin- a cannibalistic stalker. Finally ( as if two wasn't enough ) there's Dwight ( Clive Owen ) who attempts to help protect the 'sisters' of Old Town led by Gale ( Rosario Dawson ) from the mob and bent cops.
All the cast of Sin City really come to the fore, with Owen and Willis in particular standing out and making the gritty neo-30's gangster dialog come to life. The environment is fantastic and one can only applaud Rodriguez for the time he has taken to recreate the atmosphere of Miller's novels.
As I said before, Sin City is not for everyone- but if you can handle violence ( and I mean violence ) then this is a movie not to be missed.