Revel in "Sin"

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 2005)

There are few comic book adaptations that are as faithful to the source material as Sin City. Most comic adaptations make some kind of obligatory change for reasons that range from good to nonsensical, leaving fans of the original graphic novel bemoaning the desecration of their beloved comic. Not with Sin City. Advertised by director Robert Rodriguez as a "translation," Sin City replicates its inspiration impeccably, right down to individual shots matching individual panels of the original comic. But aside from slavish attention to detail, Sin City is an enormously entertaining film in its own right, recapturing some of the magic that made Pulp Fiction a runaway success.
Sin City is based on a series of graphic novels written and illustrated by Frank Miller, a comic creator most famous for his hard-edged take on Batman in the late 1980's with the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. Here, Miller has drawn on an apparent love of pulpy, hard-boiled detective and crook stories right out of the 1940's. His leads are all anti-heroes to one degree or another, his women are hookers or bar maids, the police are crooked, and violence surrounds everyone in abundance.
Sin City is essentially three separate stories: the first introduces us to Marv (Mickey Rourke), an ex-con with an ugly mug who gets picked up by a hooker named Goldie (Jamie King), but when Marv wakes up the next day, Goldie is dead, and Marv has been framed for the murder. So, instead of just taking it, he goes on a warpath to find the truth about Goldie's killer and lets no one stand in his way. The second story focuses on Dwight (Clive Owen), a murderer who just obtained plastic surgery to change his face. He is witness to a bar girl's boyfriend, James Rafferty (Benecio Del Toro), roughing her up and decides to take matters into his own hands. But before he can do anything, James and his crew ride into a section of the city dubbed Old Town, where the prostitutes have license to protect themselves, by any means necessary. The last story revolves around a police detective, Hartigan (Bruce Willis), who saves a little girl named Nancy from the clutches of a sadistic serial child rapist (Nick Stahl), only to end up framed for the crimes as revenge by the father of the rapist, a powerful senator (Powers Boothe). Eight years later, fearing for Nancy's safety, Hartigan manages to get released from prison and goes searching for Nancy (Jessica Alba), unaware that he is being followed by someone from his past.
On the visual front, Sin City is a knockout. Rodriguez, who has begun to rely more and more on advancing digital technology to craft his films, filmed most of his performers in front of greenscreens with limited props and sets and combined them with digitally rendered backgrounds. For the most part, it works beautifully. As with Miller's graphic novels, the color palate is mostly black and white, with a little color utilized, often to represent story points, or sometimes to make an emotional impact. The computer generated backgrounds are exceptional, creating a seedy, non-time-specific world of dirt, grime and dampness. By utilizing this technique, the style of the film stays relatively intact, with no jarring change from real set to digital at any point in the film. Rodriguez also frames many of his shots to one-for-one match Miller's original panels. For those not familiar with the Sin City graphic novels, this attention to detail will not be recognized, but for anyone who knows the source material, it is one extra touch that helps elevate Sin City above much of it's comic adaptation brethren.
Sin City lives up to its pulp roots at every turn, especially in its dialogue. At first, the film's hard boiled, very pulp-style dialogue seems jarring, unrealistic and stilted. But after a few minutes, that feeling dissipates and the dialogue flows naturally at that point. Rodriguez also does a good job of intertwining humor into the film. This is a picture that doesn't take itself too seriously, but also doesn't descend into camp.
The characters are mostly engaging, especially Marv. If there is any example of career resuscitation at its best, then Mickey Rourke's performance as Marv would be it. Rourke has been generally unimpressive to me for his last ten or so films, but he is a standout in Sin City. He breathes live into Marv and manages to make us care about this rather simple minded thug, finding pathos in the character. Bruce Willis and Clive Owen as the other male leads are both notable also, but they don't quite match the memorable Marv.
The one caveat to make about Sin City is that this is definitely not a film for everyone. It's laced wall-to-wall with graphic violence and some rather frank and explicit nudity (although never dipping towards pornography). Many people will be repulsed by its no-holds-barred attitude, but for those who enjoy this type of material, Sin City does not disappoint.